Another PV
by Matelia-legwll
Summary: Cain Heel's got another job offer. And the person that is hiring him is none other than Fuwa Sho. Follow on the twists and turns as Kyoko prepares to fool Sho once and for all.
1. Shock

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

Note: This story was begun before reading Skip Beat Act 199. Spoilers through Act 198, and added canon notes from 199, 200, 201, 202 & 203. Main thing that I'm ignoring or pretending didn't happen as yet to further this story plotline is White Day along with the appearance of Mr. Understanding Love-Me and Kyoko's resulting confession. This story pretends there is an extra week in between, thus not requiring her to give up Setsu for school reasons just yet.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

* * *

**Chapter One: Shock**

"So, President. Let me make sure I understand. You want Cain Heel to work in Fuwa Sho's newest PV?"

Ren was currently sitting on the couch opposite the President, alone with him in those private chambers of Lory's in LME. Lory was this time dressed in a toga, eccentric as always, assuming his newest role as some Roman Caesar.

"It's an opportunity to consider," Lory soothed, leaning back on his dais.

Ren covered his face with one hand, trying fruitlessly to make the situation disappear. "How did you hear about this opportunity anyway? The Heels are not part of LME."

This would be terrible. There were too many factors to consider. It had the potential to really get out of hand. He had let some of his own resentment of Fuwa and Kyoko's relationship leak over into Cain already. Having both of them at such close range with his emotions as Kuon at the surface… surely he wasn't the only one that could see the disaster in the making. He'd barely been able to keep from slipping into Kuon in front of Fuwa the last time the idiot had tried to confront him.

Lory plucked at a bunch of grapes, leisurely popping a few into his mouth, before answering with, "Fuwa-kun's manager somehow found out that LME has a way to contact Cain Heel. So she and Queen Records called requesting that we somehow reach Cain Heel and offer him the job."

Ren sighed, staring at his hands. And that wasn't even taking into account that if he had what he wanted, Kyoko would never even see that guy again. He was definitely going against fate and the gods to try to keep them apart.

"Have you told Mogami-san yet?"

Lory sat up, surprised. "Eh? Does that mean you will take the job?"

Ren froze, his eyes widening in shock. "Eh?"

"I didn't want to address it with Mogami-kun, unless there was a possibility of Cain doing so."

"Ah," Ren relaxed. "No. Good."

Lory gave him a lingering glance. "Did you perhaps want to tell her yourself?"

Ren's head jerked up. "I need some time… to think… about this," he said eventually.

On the positive side, if Kyoko didn't know that this was a possibility, it wouldn't complicate her current work even further. On the negative, there would be no way that Cain Heel would survive this newest disaster from the teasing gods, without Setsu by his side. And therefore bringing Kyoko and Fuwa again into each other's company. Even if Kyoko didn't know it yet, this would affect her dramatically.

"Unfortunately," Lory's voice cut into his thoughts. "Mogami-kun was another request from Queen Records. I let Asami-san think that there was a possibility of a scheduling conflict as Heel-san was requested first. However, if Cain Heel rejects this offer, I will have no choice but to extend the offer to Mogami-kun."

Ren wanted to groan. He wanted to complain and shake his fist at the uncaring sky. But none of that would delay this particular disaster in the making. If he refused, Kyoko would be offered the job alone. If he accepted, Kyoko would have to be at his side as Setsu. Either way, he could not prevent Kyoko from interacting with that jerk.

Suddenly realizing Lory had let him drift off into thought without moving, he stood. But he had one last question to ask before he left. "President?"

Lory met his eyes, his expression carefully blank.

"What role did they have in mind for Cain to play?"

"The antagonist." Lory nodded to himself. "It appears Cain's attitude is rapidly becoming famous behind the scenes as they wait for B.J. to appear on screen."

Ren didn't know how to process that particular piece of information. So he bowed and turned to leave.

"Ren," Lory said in a deep warning tone.

"Yes?" He turned back momentarily, hoping to soon escape so that he could think.

"Please think this over, but don't make your decision based on emotions alone."

Ren felt incredulous. Is that really what the President thought of him? Of course he would use reason with himself. If anything, he would probably think this to death, imagining all the different scenarios before finally giving his answer.

"And give me an honest answer by tomorrow," Lory added briskly. "I should get back to Queen Records about whether they should find a replacement soon."

He bowed again, turning and exiting the room, feeling like sand was quickly slipping from his grasp, and he didn't know where to turn to start gathering the grains of sand that were pieces of his life.

Ren had entered that room expecting a telling-off about the irresponsibility of his choice to allow Setsu to affect that patch of skin on his neck Miss Woods had had to help cover up. And he came out of the room with yet another job offer.

* * *

Kyoko was, to put it mildly, disappointed. While she didn't really expect to hear reports from Moko-san and Amamiya-san, she couldn't deny that a part of her had been hoping one or the other would have discussed things with her regarding each of their missions. If nothing else, it would serve as a welcome distraction from her cliff hanging thoughts which instantly turned her into a sea of darkness and turmoil upon contemplation.

However, she knew what a double standard that would be, as she obviously could not tell either one of them of the results so far of her own dangerous mission. And what results might those be? Setsuka was impossible. Kyoko froze again remembering… Oh, how could she ever begin to explain? She, a young Japanese maiden, doing those kinds of things to her senpai, all under the guise of acting.

So, yes. She completely understood the reason why she must remain silent. However, what was causing the silent tension in the room from the other two Love Me Members?

Amamiya-san had made sure that the next off-day they both had would be in the home office rather than Kyoko going to school, apparently wanting support while continuing to try to see any good points in Kawagoe Michika's acting. However, the animosity she held towards the shallow actress was causing her once more to write more in the poison notebook and leaving the response papers blank.

"Moko-san?" Kyoko whispered, deciding to start in on her best friend rather than tackle distracting Chiori from scribbling in her poison notebook.

Kanae briefly met her eyes, then looked back toward the script she was hiding her face behind. "Eh?"

"Moko-san? Why aren't you telling me what's bothering you?"

"Why should something be bothering me?"

Kanae's offhand tone belied the cold atmosphere of the Love Me Section office. Kyoko narrowed her eyes.

"You've been reading that script for longer than fifteen seconds, Moko-san," Kyoko easily pointed out.

Her best friend tensed, then gingerly set the booklet down. Kanae looked disapprovingly at her. "I was just trying to think. To figure something out. That's all."

Kyoko beamed with this progress. "What were you trying to figure out?" she asked happily.

"Your mission from President."

Kyoko froze under the cold gaze of her best friend. Her professional smile bubbled to the surface and then she asked blithely, "Why should that bother you?"

Registering the smile and suppressing her shudder, Kanae wondered if she should divulge exactly how worried the other girl had made her when she had turned off her phone the other night. The knowledge that absolutely nothing was wrong didn't dissolve that worry instantaneously. "How come yours was done so quickly?" Kanae frowned, losing her sense of pride in her thoughts and reasoning. "I have to continue to shoot the drama for another three weeks, Amamiya-san still has more appearances she must make on 'For Real?!' and yet you got off after that one afternoon."

Kyoko paused. Treacherous territory. However could she navigate through these landmines? She must protect the existence of the Heel siblings with her life. But it wasn't like her to keep all these secrets from Moko-san. And secret kept building on secret with this dangerous mission. Kyoko waved a hand, brushing off Kanae's comment.

"Ah, President must have realized that it was enough." She wondered for a moment yet again about how soon President had come up with the idea of Setsuka. Was it meant to be part of her dangerous mission officially? Or was it a thought that President had after Ren had revealed his identity to her anyway? Remembering that glare and the dangerous feeling from that afternoon this all started, she was intensely glad Cain liked his sister. "It certainly scared me," she muttered.

"Kyoko-san?" interjected Chiori.

"Yes?" Kyoko quickly seized on this new interaction in an effort to avoid the spotlight Kanae's line of questioning was forcing her into.

"Where have you been spending your time?"

"Eh?" This was bad. This was really bad. They were teaming up against her weak spots without any prior rehearsal.

"Your schedule for Box-R is light enough you should have loads of time on your hands now that Dark Moon has finished as well. Have you gotten more offers?" Chiori was wide-eyed with innocent curiosity.

Kanae was watching her reaction to this line of questioning suspiciously.

Kyoko opened her mouth to respond, with what she had no clue, and was thankfully interrupted by a knock at the section door. All three girls gave each other terrified looks. The last person to visit them in here was the President, and none of them wanted additional tasks from him.

"Mogami-san? Are you in there?" the voice called through the door, causing Kanae and Chiori to breathe a sigh of relief. However, Kyoko jerked as if electricity had shocked her.

"Tsuruga-san!" The one person she didn't want to see. The only person that could rescue her. For he was the person who knew enough to know why she had to use any excuse to dodge this conversation, and also the one person that she didn't want to burden by making him save her.

Kanae looked at Kyoko's frozen professional smile, and tilted her head in curiosity. What in the world was going on with Tsuruga-san that Kyoko had to put on this mask? Had the idiot actually kissed her on Valentine's Day and not resolved it with the young actress yet? It had been almost a month.

"Mogami-san?" Another jolt ran through Kyoko's body, and Kanae took it upon herself to shove her best friend towards the door.

"Open the door, you idiot! Mo!"

And before Kyoko could prevent it from happening, Kanae pulled the door open and threw her hapless friend into the waiting arms of Tsuruga-san, who just looked shocked, but Kanae suspected he was also slightly pleased with the turn of events.

"Eh?"

"Kyoko-chan?" The glasses guy, Yashiro, peered around Ren in order to see what had happened. "Eh? What's going on?"

"Erm…" Kyoko's face was adorably shocked. "I'm sorry!" She quickly jumped back, but Kanae stopped her from escaping further into the Love Me Section room with a glare.

"Don't come back until you're ready to finish our conversation."

"Moko-san!" Kyoko exclaimed before the door slammed shut.

* * *

Kanae flounced back to that stupid script she'd been blankly staring at earlier. Maybe this time her brain would actually process the words instead of going over what the couple from the Daruma-ya had told her when she had called to locate Kyoko and invite her to stay the night. Kyoko hadn't spent the night at home for five days, and before that it was still sporadic; they didn't know the next time that Kyoko would be there, but her absence had something to do with work.

Kanae sighed. She wouldn't have even tried to call them if Kyoko's phone hadn't been off.

Yes, Kyoko had later told her that an accident had happened in her room to her phone, but that didn't put the other comments out of Kanae's mind. What was that girl up to now? And why hadn't Kyoko told her yet?

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! And stay tuned for the next part of this story. It's certainly nowhere near done yet!


	2. Mystery

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

**Chapter Two: Mystery**

* * *

Kyoko's eyes were glued sheepishly to the ground and nothing Ren had said or done yet had raised them once. He had gotten out of her that Kotonami-san had been questioning her about a dangerous mission, and that Amamiya-san had wanted to know what was eating up all of Kyoko's time. Ren felt a twinge of guilt that the President had brainwashed her so bad, she _would_ keep this secret from her well-meaning friends, no matter what excuse Ren could provide for telling them. Yashiro had left them, using the excuse of going to find food, possibly from the LA Hearts café downstairs, for Ren to eat in front of Kyoko. Ren checked all around them as they sat at one of the tables provided conveniently at random out-of-the-way spots, making sure they had been left completely alone, then said, "Mogami-san, I'm sorry for taking you from your Love-Me work, but I need to speak with you."

Kyoko nodded, her eyes avoiding looking at the person in front of her. How in the world was she supposed to interact with him? Nothing had been normal for them outside of their roles for ages now. What with the Fuwa incident at TBM, the Dark Moon party, and that awful night in his apartment where the locks had once again been blown away by his touch… No. She couldn't think about that now.

Ren sighed. "How close is your hold on Setsu?"

Finally, Kyoko's gaze sought him, but it was Setsu's expression of absolute adoration that was on her face. "Nii-san, what's the matter?"

"Your brother has been offered a part in a PV."

"Eh?" That was confusing. "I thought people didn't know about Nii-san's acting abilities. The BJ movie scenes haven't been released yet even for promos."

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself, Setsu."

Kyoko frowned, the mystery of the offer being enough to trump her insecurities for the moment. There was only one person she associated with PV's and that particular job had shot her into the limelight. If what she had understood about Cain's job as the actor of BJ was correct, they couldn't risk Cain Heel gaining fame. Only the fellow actors knew that stage name, and it wouldn't even be listed in the credits. The whole point of this was to increase the mystery of BJ and the movie project itself.

"Does Director Konoe know?"

Ren stared at her in shocked horror.

"I guess not," Kyoko muttered.

"This is even more complicated than I had thought," sighed Ren, shaking his head gently. "How in the world am I going to tell him that Queen Records somehow knows about Cain Heel?"

Only two words penetrated Kyoko's mind and drove out all other thoughts. "Queen Records?" she repeated, her eyes going wide and shooting up to meet Ren's newly chagrined face.

Ren waited silently for the expected explosion from Kyoko, and was surprised to see her smile slightly, slap her forehead, then shake her head dismissively.

"Mogami-san?" he asked warily.

"It's nothing. Just had a stupid thought. It's obviously wrong. After all, why would a baka like Fuwa Sho request Heel-san to act for him?" Kyoko gave a light little laugh.

He is stupid indeed, Ren had to agree. He really didn't want to confirm her words, but sooner or later she would find out the truth. "It _is_ that idiot's PV."

Instantly, the aura around her grew heavy and dark. Ah, the anticipated explosion of darkness and anger had just been delayed for a bit, not cancelled entirely.

Kyoko's grudge demons were out in force. It was one thing to have the stupid cockroach cross her mind every now and then, it was another to know that someone expected her to be in his presence. She'd even been half avoiding school now on off-days since Mimori had proven that she was an untrustworthy informer that resulted in the cockroach appearing himself.

_Mistress, he wants to use us again._

_That JERK!_

"What… did you say?" she asked in a dead tone.

Ren hesitated then sighed, turning his head away. He had known this reaction was coming, and yet that didn't once comfort his poor heart from the disappointment. He knew that it was too much to hope for indifference from this girl towards that guy. So why did his heart insist on futilely hoping for something different?

"Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko said in a much more mild tone. "What did you say? What did you tell them?"

Ren's surprised gaze jerked back to meet hers. Was he not expecting this question? _Oh_. Kyoko immediately realized her mistake. Of course, someone with the professional attitude of Tsuruga Ren hadn't even considered the possibility that he could reject the offer. Kyoko felt foolish for bringing it up in such a way that it cast doubt as to whether or not he would accept the role.

"I'm so—" began Kyoko, dipping her head to begin her apology bow.

Ren held up a hand interrupting gently. "I didn't tell them anything yet, Mogami-san. I wanted to talk with you first. And now it seems like I need to talk with the director to see how he wants to approach this, considering the BJ project and how this would affect it."

Kyoko paused, letting this information filter through her brain, and then objected to the piece that didn't make sense to her. "What would you want to talk about with me first?"

Ren was silent for a moment, then quirked his lips into a smile. "You never did answer my first question. Is your hold on Setsu strong?"

"I suppose you could say Setsu's hold is strong," said Kyoko, pursing her lips, and tilting her head thoughtfully.

"How strong?"

Kyoko thought quickly to bring up some situation in the past that would support her statement. "Well, she actually interrupted one of my scenes in Box-R while performing Natsu. That's really the first time that a character did that to me while acting. Is that because I hadn't fully released her, or does that happen often with stronger characters?"

Kyoko's innocent enthusiasm would be his undoing, Ren was sure of that. But it didn't keep him from responding with, "Yes. When the character is strong, the emotions are harder to break out from. While not common, it is certainly not unheard of."

At that moment, Yashiro, who had apparently delayed as long as he possibly could and still appear reasonable, came bustling in with plenty of food, and Kyoko set to quietly arranging the portion sizes to give Ren a balanced meal.

"So," said Yashiro, trying to break the silence that resulted when he came, but not knowing exactly which topic to broach. _Please tell me they weren't this silent the entire time I was gone. Re-en!_ "Kyoko-chan, have you gotten any new Love-Me jobs?"

Kyoko glanced down at the uniform she had completely forgotten she was wearing, startled. How she could forget she and the others were wearing the cursed blindingly pink clothing today, she didn't know. She shrugged, and turning back to the food, said, "Not exactly. No one has been requesting Love-Me jobs, but President said we should try to seek them out. Anticipate needs before we are asked." She pouted after her last statement.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Yashiro.

"I've gotten a lot of negative stamps recently," she sighed. "Doing things without being told to do them usually results in angry people."

"But doesn't that make you practice how to change anger into love?" pointed out Ren.

Kyoko's expression turned thoughtful. "I didn't think of it that way. Do you really think that is the reason, Tsuruga-san?"

He smiled gently at her. "That is what I think."

* * *

"Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko asked later as they walked to the elevators.

"Yes?"

She had to phrase her question very carefully, she knew. Shorter and as vague as possible is probably better in this case, she reasoned. "Is he going to accept, you think?"

Ren tilted his head, catching her meaning without it needing to be spoken aloud. "If the director doesn't object, probably."

Kyoko nodded thoughtfully, wondering how that particular combination would turn out any better than the initial shooting of the Prisoner PV. Cain was even more impulsive and had nearly killed himself and Murasame-san that one time they fought. He had promised her, though. Would that be enough to keep him from fighting with that fool?

"Of course, the sister would need to accompany her brother," added Ren, thinking that the direct invitation from him to her to act Setsu alongside him was the real reason she was pursuing this topic.

Kyoko suddenly stopped walking.

"Kyoko-chan?" said Yashiro, the first to react to the fact that Kyoko had frozen in place.

Ren felt a sinking sensation as he turned and looked carefully at Kyoko's blank expression. He had wondered if she had been purposefully ignoring the fact that she would be coming too, but this reaction implied that she hadn't had the time to fully realize this for herself. "Mogami-san? Is something wrong with that?"

Her eyes looked frantic, as she stuttered, "I-I-I don't think... N-no. Nothing's wrong."

She didn't want to admit it, certainly not to Tsuruga-san and Yashiro-san, but she felt a wave of fear and insecurity at the prospect of acting Setsuka in front of Shotaro. She was such a newbie actress, and the last time she had worked with Shotaro, he had easily broken through her defenses, and found out who she really was. Would the same thing happen this time as well? What would that do to the movie project?

* * *

Sho was currently staring at his phone in disbelief. He hadn't been able to reach Kyoko for a few days now. It was more than just avoiding his phone calls, since her phone was off and he couldn't even leave a voice message. What had happened?

He had attempted the number at all hours of the day and night. Several times he had to stop himself from attempting to find her. Surely that idiotic girl had some friend that would look for her if she hadn't shown up to work, right? She had been going on about that one friend she based Pochi's character off of. And speaking of work, how did she expect work to get a hold of her if even he couldn't reach her?

How could he guarantee that she would accept the challenge of working in his upcoming PV, if he couldn't talk to her and challenge her personally?

He tried the number again.

_"The number you have dialed is currently out of reach or turned off and thus unavailable." Beep. "The number—"_

"Shoko!"

She wearily appeared at the door. "Yes?"

"Can I see your phone?"

Shoko wanted to protest, to ask what was wrong with his, but she dutifully handed her phone over. He scrolled through both directories comparing the number he had just called with the number in Shoko's phone.

Sho cursed. It was the same exact number. He had already checked Miruki's phone as well. They all had the same number listed for Kyoko. Maybe she had cursed just his phone. Dialing it on Shoko's phone, he leaned back in his chair. This time must be different. She would think that it was Shoko, and she would answer. Probably in that idiotic happy voice. He could almost hear it now.

"Hello! Mogami speak—" _"The number you have dialed is currently out of reach or turned off and thus un—"_

"ARGH!"

"Sho!" reproved Shoko, quickly retrieving the phones before her charge irresponsibly broke both in his rage. "Now, will you tell me what is going on?"

He pouted, drawing out the silence childishly.

"Sho, as your manager, I need to know."

"Doesn't matter," he eventually forced out. "I'll just take a walk."

"I know it has something to do with Kyoko-chan, so just tell me. What's been going on?"

"Nothing!" Sho shouted, his frustration and worry making his face contort into what Shoko recognized as his Nio statue face. "Absolutely nothing!"

She chose to back away slowly, her eyes fixed on the deformed face of the young rock star. "Fine. I won't say anything more. Just be ready at three for your interview."

Sho continued to mutter and curse to himself. Why was he so out of control? What did that girl think she was doing to him with this?

* * *

Chiori frowned. She had gathered that Kanae was acting oddly, but she didn't really have all that much rapport with the older actress. It wasn't like Kotonami-san had ever been in a production with her. But even more worrying was the distraction of the actress that had so inspired her. The immortal butterfly was flying out of her grasp, and she had no additional idea of how to track her.

"Kotonami-san?" she said.

The actress glanced up, frustration showing in her expression. "Yes?"

"Kyoko-san has a regular job at TBM, ne?"

Kanae's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And what if she does?"

"I was just wondering if I could know the details of that job. What does she do, exactly?"

Chiori looked into the other actress's eyes with an innocence that rivaled Kyoko during one of her magic kingdom trips. She had shrewdly and carefully calculated this good-girl persona that had allowed her to become Amamiya Chiori instead of Tendou Akari. And honestly, it wasn't like she was trying to do more than learn everything she could about her senpai. What better way was there to learn about her than to find out what she did for her other regular spot? Perhaps she could be spending all that extra time at TBM?

Kanae considered for a moment what she could say to be honest while not giving away Kyoko's secret. Why exactly she was so adamant that no one find out, especially Tsuruga-san, Kanae didn't fully understand, though she did respect that request. "She's a mascot for one of the variety shows."

Kanae's memory of that first time she had forced Kyoko into the chicken suit caused her lips to twitch slightly into a smile.

Chiori viewed the unguarded expression on Kanae's face with surprise, as it had distracted her from her knee-jerk 'I hate variety shows' reaction. "Eh?"

Kanae snapped back into control of her face. "Yes, of course. It started out as a Love-Me job, but it soon progressed to a regular spot. The identity of the mascot is supposed to be kept absolutely secret."

"Absolutely secret, huh?" Chiori thought about this for a minute, while Kanae eyed her suspiciously over the top of the script she had been hiding behind earlier. "Do you suppose that is where she's been spending her time? At TBM?"

Kanae frowned, setting the script down in her lap. "If that was all, she'd tell me." _After all, I helped get her that job, even if I was trying to make her hate me at the time._ The pretty actress sighed. "It's not like her to keep this many secrets." Kanae thought about that a little longer. Kyoko was perfectly trustworthy, and respectful of others' secrets (one reason why exposing her to Kanae's family or telling her of the secret part-time work she did didn't worry the actress all that much), but when it came to her own secrets, she seemed to be happier if a few fully knew the truth of the matter. Or else she mistakenly thought she was being obvious, like the misunderstanding Kanae had with Fuwa Sho. Like that time, she needed to be forced to spill occasionally, but Kanae could usually play the best friends card to persuade her easily.

If she wasn't telling Kanae, and she was hiding things from Tsuruga-san as well, who _was_ that girl confiding in?

* * *

A/N: Fast responses result in fast updates, ne? Thanks for the marvelous response to the first chapter.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And tell me if you like it. ^_^


	3. Hesitation

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

**Chapter Three: Hesitation**

* * *

Ren froze, his hand hovering over his phone. He was on a break during one of his CM shoots, and Yashiro had gone to get drinks.

Why was he hesitating? He really should call the director and get it over with already. This whole situation was distracting him and taking the fun out of his other jobs.

He supposed he could easily cause Yashiro to break his phone again and thus delay the necessity of talking with the director, but that really wouldn't help his situation at all. He wanted to hope that the director would give him leave to take the PV, but at the same time, he wanted to have an excuse to reject the offer. If only his rejecting the offer could mean that Kyoko still wouldn't have to deal with Fuwa's PV. But rejecting the offer would only mean abandoning her to face the jerk on her own, without Ren at her side.

He really should just get this task done, since he was alone for the time being. He finally grabbed the phone and dialed. Putting it up to his ear, he closed his eyes and waited for the voice to come on the other line.

_"Hello?"_

"Ah. Director. This is Tsuruga Ren. Is this a convenient time?"

_"Oh, of course."_ Ren could hear a muffled, _'Tell everyone to take five. I need to take this call,'_ before Director Konoe said back into the phone, _"What did you need?"_

Ren sighed then started to explain. "…So you see, somehow, the reputation of Cain Heel has preceded the promo clips, and I'm not sure if it would be appropriate for Heel-san to act in another production, while we invented him to forward the progress of BJ."

_"I see."_ There was a pause, and Ren allowed the director to think through the ramifications of the offer, and tell him what Ren really _should_ do about the PV. _"Interesting."_

"Director? What do you recommend I do?"

_"I say take it,"_ the confident voice in his ear shocked him. _"If nothing else, it will give an excuse for being absent from filming that even Murasame-san must regard as valid."_

"Eh?" Was that male lead causing problems on the set even without Cain to pick fights with?

_"And if Heel-san does take the job, perhaps we will be able to find out who is talking about him already."_

"Yes, I had thought of that," Ren responded automatically.

_"So when is the PV going to be filmed? We'll want to free it from Heel-san's schedule, ne?"_

"Uh, yes. I'll find out more and tell you about it the next time I'm there."

_"Yes, thank you. I really must go now, but thank you for consulting with me."_

Ren could hardly keep the relief out of his voice. "Ah, please accept my thanks as well, Director. Good-bye."

Hanging up the phone, he let himself relax enough that he collapsed into a chair. Everything would be fine. He could go to the shoot and act, stand between them, and Kyoko wouldn't have to even reveal herself.

Kyoko.

He couldn't help the comparison his memory retrieved. Both times she had stopped motionless and collapsed. Was it like that time? That time was brought on by Yashiro mentioning the tea ceremony, she had said. He still wanted her reaction to be more because of her fractured ankle. But that was moot. This time, had her reason for the hesitation been any different?

_It reminded me of a man I hate to the core._

"You hide things from me too often, Ren," accused Yashiro's voice from behind him.

Ren jerked, his thoughts fleeing his mind as he turned and glimpsed Yashiro's playful eyes. "Don't startle me like that, Yashiro," he rebuked before relaxing again. "How long have you been there, anyway?"

"Long enough." Yashiro's tone was lofty as he finally sat across from Ren and offered him a drink. "So, who's got you in such a mood?"

"What do you mean?" The question came out automatically, hinting towards denial.

Yashiro offered a long evaluating glance, then exhaled. "I already know there are only two people that can affect your emotions this much. Fuwa-san and Kyoko-chan. Which one are you thinking of?"

Ren shook his head, dismissively. "I don't know what you're talking about. You come up with some of the craziest notions at times." That's right. Deny everything. It doesn't matter that Yashiro looks like you've just killed his favorite pet, nor the fact that he was actually right on target, not even the knowledge that confiding in _anyone_ had to be better than holding all this anxiety in.

Yashiro, for his part, was pouting in disappointment. He hated when Ren chose to lie to him rather than admit to the truth. He'd finally gotten a lock on most of the actor's off-balance reactions, only to be shut down at nearly every turn as he tried to interpret those emotions. And it wasn't like his theories were _that_ off-base. He knew the BJ project had great perks with Kyoko-chan officially living with Ren, and also great pitfalls like showing to the world some of those violent emotions only Yashiro and Kyoko-chan had previously been exposed to.

He also knew he had stumbled onto one gigantic mess in the making, when he had finally caught up with Ren and Fuwa the other day. The tension there was incredibly dark and overpowering. It was a worse atmosphere than the emailing issue with Kijima-san. And Yashiro had the oddest feeling that if he hadn't interrupted when he did, the two celebrities might have even come to blows.

He evaluated his charge's current attitude, and decided it resembled despair and heartache more than fury and jealousy. Thus Kyoko-chan really is at the heart of his mood. More than likely. Yashiro wished that he could feel confident in deducing more than that, but Ren had clammed up much more often recently. Yashiro wanted to diagnose this as being party to Kyoko-chan's freeze in the hall, but with Ren he didn't feel like he fully understood all the various triggers the actor experienced. Especially now, in Ren's double life as Cain Heel, Yashiro didn't get as much hands-on observation to supplement his theories.

"Time to go back on set, Ren," the manager mentioned, grudgingly standing. Ren gracefully stood and stretched before silently leading the way back to the set.

Yashiro followed behind, shaking his head slightly, pitying his charge for falling in love with Love Me Section's number 1.

* * *

"He had WHAT?"

_"I'm almost certain, darling. It was a really dark mark. Three or maybe four days old, judging from the coloring of the bruising."_

Jelly continued to go on, while Lory got his face under control. He cleared his throat, then commented, "Well, you did an excellent job of covering it up, Ten."

_"Thank you!" _Jelly sounded so pleased, as she always did whenever he complimented her work.

That devilish natural playboy… the thought kept circulating in his head as the two wrapped up their conversation. Lory found himself wondering exactly what the specifics were of the circumstances that led to Ren receiving a mark like that.

It was purely professional curiosity, of course. It _would_ be nice to watch another romance, as his favorite steamy one had run out of episodes (as part of the deal for rebroadcasting it he had to wait a certain amount of time before running the series again), and Dark Moon was yet to be put into a boxed set. Speaking of, that would be something he should bother the producers about. Perhaps there was something on his desk that was related.

Lory continued to muse to himself as he looked over the various paperwork he had to deal with daily. Was Kyoko was further along than he had thought? Ah, no. He immediately spotted the flaw in that logic. If it had been Kanae, sure. Kotonami-kun did not consistently express love well. But Mogami-kun was very good at giving love, especially platonic love, _her_ weakness was receiving and expecting to receive it. She had been so surprised at the number of people that had celebrated her birthday with her, for instance. He had thought that giving romantic love would be more of a challenge for the young actress, and had trusted Ren to guide her through that aspect of the characters first.

He almost had to laugh, remembering the meeting he had with Ren that morning. The poor boy had shifted his eyes uncomfortably upon entering the office early that morning in such a way that Lory was almost certain he was expecting a scolding. How did he not see it before?

Well, Ren wouldn't escape a scolding twice. He'd just bring it up naturally when Ren reported on whether or not he was taking the Fuwa Sho PV job as Cain Heel. Lory of course would work out a deal with Queen Records after the filming to keep the second stage name out of the credits. That was the least he could do for the BJ project. Especially since this was allowing two of his favorites to rehabilitate themselves in a secure environment.

For some reason, the name of the artist triggered a memory from just over a year ago. Lory suddenly recalled the time his first two Love Me girls had auditioned. Mogami-kun had mentioned something about catching up to Fuwa Sho. What _was_ her relationship with the pop idol? He couldn't remember ever asking her. How _did_ that slip off his radar?

He continued to muse about what he had been told regarding Mogami-kun's relationships. She had never known her father, so Kuu had virtually adopted the girl. Something painful had happened with her mother. Enough that she believed her mother hated her or at the very least was indifferent to her. She had no siblings to speak of, though there she had adopted Maria. Or, well, Maria adopted her. As for friends, she seemed to make friends easily enough with those around her in her work relationships.

So the thing she was truly lacking was trust in romantic love. And she lacked a mother's love as well.

How did she come to be so distrustful?

Lory almost didn't notice his aide, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts, but when Sebastian cleared his throat and mentioned that Tsuruga-san had left a message for him, Lory jumped up off the dais, and darted towards him.

"Please tell me, tell me the message," the President begged.

"He will accept the PV."

"And?" pressed Lory.

"That was all. That was the message."

Sebastian probably had predicted the instant mood change, for he stoically didn't react at all as Lory's expression drooped into his sad puppy face.

"Sir? Tsuruga-san's manager also called. He was wondering when the PV was set to be filmed so that they could insert it into Tsuruga-san's schedule."

"Ah!" This brightened Lory's mood a bit. "Yes, now let me see, what happened to that piece of paper?"

He eventually sorted through the paperwork again and located the written request, and glanced at the date himself. "Eh?"

He thought through what he had dragged out of Sawara-san about Kyoko's schedule. No, he'd just have to make sure Kimagure Rock filmed on a different day. He had yet to resolve that particular filming day, but he was pretty sure he could pull that off, after all, they had booked an LME talent for that particular show. This request would occupy the girl the entire day, and so it would be best for her to film Kimagure Rock on a Tsuruga Ren day rather than a Cain Heel day.

He would have just suggested asking someone else to substitute inside the costume, but Sawara-san had made absolutely sure the President knew that this role had many, many fans. And the fans had requested her specifically.

Yes, this was precisely why the girl needed a manager. Much longer and he'd be tempted to apply for the job himself. He'd have to find one physically fit though. Enough to chase her down if necessary. He wasn't sure if Sawara had been exaggerating about her ability to bike alongside a moving taxi, but he didn't want to take any chances with her notable talents.

"Sir?"

"Eh? Oh, right." Lory handed Sebastian the piece of paper, then complimented him on his toga, before sitting back on the dais and musing further.

* * *

Kyoko was extremely glad that Kimagure Rock had aligned with her schedule yet again. She did not want to have to explain to Ren why exactly she needed to be at TBM so often on the Heel siblings off days, but thankfully the three schedules—hers, Ren's, and Cain's—continued to match without the explanation. He did not need to know that she was Bo and she would continue to do everything she could to disguise that fact.

She could only imagine the peril the Demon Lord might put her through as punishment if he ever did find out. She shuddered at the idea.

More and more frequently she found herself backed into a corner. Or rather, forced to retreat until she fell off a cliff. School was more or less off-limits currently because Mimori would spy for the idiot fool. Now she had to figure out what she was supposed to say to Moko-san in order to be let back into the Love Me office. It wasn't fair!

And what was really unfair about the whole situation, what really got her riled, was that once again she was forced to interact with that lowly enemy of hers. It was all _his_ fault! That SHO_TARO_!

Suddenly, she felt herself being jerked back to reality.

"Bo! Bo!" one of the workers was shaking her costume. "Bo? Good. You're on in less than a minute. Here's the eggs."

The basket was shoved into her wings, and the worker helping her gestured for her to walk on.

It was fun to be a part of this show, she recalled, as the live audience called out excitedly, "Bo!" "Look there's Bo!" "What's he gonna do this time?"

The guest tonight happened to be a talento from a smaller agency. Not quite as small as Amamiya-san's Soft Hat, but nowhere near able to compete with LME or Akatoki Agency. Kyoko squeaked her way over to Hikaru and the rest with the eggs.

"Ah, thank you Bo!"

"Perfect timing!"

Kyoko gave a proud salute.

* * *

Making that fateful choice to walk through TBM to transport Bo's costume for cleaning, after filming her last segment and while waiting for the Ishibashi-senpais to finish up, Kyoko really berated herself. She should have known that was a bad idea. How many times did that make it now that she had stumbled upon a similar situation? Three? Four?

Admittedly, Tsuruga-san's aura was not as dark or as menacing as it could have been. He seemed to be more thoughtful than sucked into the black hole of despair.

But still! What was she to do?

It seemed better, easier, to get past as Bo, rather than appearing here as Kyoko and facing him for the second time today without the protection of a role to play. Especially here at TBM.

"Yo! Tsuruga-san."

"Ah! You're here too."

She cautiously nodded. "You don't seem in a very bad mood this time," she noted, taking a seat next to him. "Is this more your normal face?" Bo, of course, hadn't seen the wide range of expressions that Kyoko had, after all.

Tsuruga-san half-smiled and nodded. "I was just thinking about you."

Kyoko instantly felt a rush of nerves. If he had found out somehow, from someone…!

Sawara-san, Moko-san, one of the Bridge Rock boys… there were just way too many people that knew this particular secret.

"…Or, rather, about chickens in general."

Kyoko narrowed her eyes. What exactly did he mean by that? "Eh?"

He was silent a moment then said, "Brian. That's what I named him." Tsuruga-san seemed to be sucked into a memory of some kind, while Kyoko was left to ponder on his vague statements. She really didn't know what to say to Tsuruga-san. She felt rather uncomfortable with the direction he seemed to be taking the conversation. She tried to think back. What had they talked about the last time?

"…are you called?"

"Eh?" How could she have not been listening again? Hadn't she gotten in enough trouble with that already? The ripping off of the chef's hat, Kijima-san's teasing—both should have taught her better.

Tsuruga-san looked sheepish. "You don't have to tell me your real name if you don't want to. But I think I'd feel better if I could address you as something, rather than just 'the chicken.'"

"Ah." Well, at least he wasn't demanding her real name. Still she felt uneasy telling him even that so easily, but she couldn't very well refuse. "It's Bo."

"Bo-kun. Nice to officially meet you, my friend." Ren smiled.

Anxious to change topics to something less awkward, Kyoko hurriedly said, "It seems you conquered your role from last time."

"Ah! Yes. Thanks for that. You truly helped me see past the block that last time."

"Does that mean you took my advice?" Why had she asked that? She didn't want to think about Ren acting on her foolish advice. She didn't want the twinge that stung her heart when she thought about that conversation. It would be better to entirely forget it, wouldn't it? As much as the thought of her advice actually helping her esteemed senpai through his slump brightened and lightened her entire being, it would probably be better to ignore the fact that her advice centered around him pursuing his love life.

Ren tilted his head then nodded slightly. "As much as could be expected anyway."

"What is that supposed to mean?" The suspicious question burst out of her before she could stop it. Please stop, she begged herself. Don't pursue this conversation more. She was going to have enough trouble convincing herself that it was going to be alright to continue to admire Tsuruga-san without him pursuing someone actively.

Ren just stared at Bo as the two sank into an awkward silence. Eventually breaking it, he turned away and muttered, "How do I explain something like that?"

"Just say it, boldly," advised Kyoko. "That's what happens eventually, ne?"

Ren sighed deeply, glanced once toward the person in the chicken suit, then back away again. _Why do I trust you so easily?_ His hand gripped his wrist while he debated on how much to reveal to the anonymous person. "A wise man once said, you never know what type of disaster a teasing god will wrap you up in."

Kyoko nodded eagerly, then thoughtfully as the statement processed through her mind. "That's very true, isn't it?" She could think of loads of disasters that had happened to her, especially recently, and if she could blame them on a teasing god, that would make a lot more sense.

"Unfortunately, I can't say everything that is on my mind right now, Bo-kun. But perhaps I don't need to confide anything at the moment. Perhaps it is enough that she…" he suddenly broke off, and Kyoko watched as his hand slowly moved from gripping his wrist to lightly brush the side of his neck.

Knowing he was remembering the mark that Jelly-san had covered expertly, Kyoko immediately felt her face flame and felt intensely glad that the chicken suit hid her massive blush.

"Yes, it is enough," he whispered, his hand fisting under his chin. "It must be."

* * *

Shoko stared at Asami in despair then dropped her head into her hand. "How long do you think we can hide that Kyoko-chan turned down the offer due to work for another job?"

"Probably not more than a few days. He's been asking me every day whether we've heard back from LME on the offer." Asami frowned. "It really is for the best. I heard her acting has really improved, since the last PV, and Sho forgot himself even that time."

"Yes, but this answer will make the scariest of scary faces appear." Shoko shuddered.

"He really likes her, doesn't he?" noted Asami.

"He probably does, I don't know. He doesn't show it like normal people would." Shoko sighed. "I know he worries about her, but even though something happened on Valentine's Day, and they went out for dinner a few days ago, he doesn't seem to have changed at all."

"Ah!" exclaimed Sho, stepping out from the room behind where Shoko and Asami had been conversing. He stretched lazily, then, dropping one arm on Shoko's shoulder and one on Asami's, he asked, "Where are we off to now?"

"Next is your interview at Fuji TV," Shoko reported, eager to stay away from the topic she had been conversing with Asami about.

"Oh, Miruki, have you heard back from LME at all regarding my PV actors?" Sho asked casually.

"Well," she hesitated, glancing at an anxious Shoko. She sighed, giving in to the unspoken request. "They've been able to contact the antagonist, and he has accepted, but there's been no news from Kyoko-chan."

Sho frowned. "How unprofessional," he grumbled. "Who does she think she is?"

Asami winced. Shoko frowned as well, mentally apologizing to Kyoko-chan for the slight to her name.

Sho waited until Shoko had left him in the dressing room at Fuji TV before allowing himself to think on the matter further. Who does Kyoko think she is? Why hadn't she responded at all? Was it due to the phone? Surely nothing had happened since he had separated from her at TBM that would cause her to be unable to respond to the request. He felt sure that a rejection would come since he hadn't been able to challenge her personally. But this silence was even more irritating than a rejection would be.

It made him imagine things.

Things he never wanted to see or deal with.

He reached for his phone to try yet again.

* * *

A/N: Fast responses result in fast updates, ne? Thanks for the marvelous response to the first two chapters!

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And tell me if you like it. ^_^

(Anyone who has looked at the raws for 204... did you see _that_ coming?)


	4. Contemplation

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

**Chapter Four: Contemplation**

* * *

The following day dawned bright and clear. In the halls of LME one shout rose above the rest. "MOKO-SAN!" the retina-scarring pink girl exclaimed before racing to catch the elusive Kanae.

Expertly sidestepping the running girl, Kanae checked her outfit before turning back and facing her best friend. "Mo! Kyoko, how many times do I have to tell you to not try and tackle me? What is it?"

Regaining her balance, Kyoko smiled brightly. "I just wanted to share some lovely skinship with you!"

Knowing it was useless to protest the term Kyoko had used for her barreling hugs or the shoves in response, Kanae just winced, shaking her head. "Mo! Now, are you going to tell me what you need this time?"

"Moko-san," Kyoko pouted, remembering the real reason she had sought out her best friend. "Just because my phone was off, doesn't mean I didn't want to spend the night at your house."

"What? How did you find out about that?" Kanae was sure that she hadn't mentioned the reason she had been trying to get in touch with Kyoko that other day.

Kyoko smiled triumphantly. "Okami-san told me."

"Mo! That woman." Kanae pouted, not being able to say anything else. On one hand, having secrets exposed like this was very embarrassing, but on the other, it might drive into Kyoko that Kanae didn't consider this friendship purely one-sided.

Kyoko went on, increasing drawn into the tragedy of the moment. "I mean, you should have called me again yesterday, we could have had a sleepover last night! Now we'll have to wait until next Wednesday."

"Why all the way out to next Wednesday?" asked Kanae suspiciously. Kyoko was always willing to do anything that screamed 'best friends' with her, that putting it off for so long was extremely unusual.

Kyoko opened her mouth and closed it again, trying to figure out how exactly to proceed with this conversation which had crossed the line from innocent to dangerous as if being chased by fire. "Um, well, Moko-san, I'm sorry…" she trailed off.

Kanae took the opportunity of the speechless Kyoko to also be suspicious of the other statement she had made concerning their plans. "And what do you mean I should have called you yesterday? I tried. It's not my fault your phone was still off."

This so startled Kyoko that she immediately reached into her homemade bag for her cell phone. "It's still off? I thought I had turned it back on once I got here yesterday."

Kanae watched as the girl pulled out two phones, instantly replacing one of them before Kanae got a good look at it, and then stared at the other in disbelief.

"It really is off. How odd." Kyoko flipped it open and stared at the black screen. "When did I turn it off?"

Kanae said in a disappointed tone, "You didn't believe me."

"No, Moko-san. I did believe you," said Kyoko. "I just don't remember exactly when or why…" Suddenly a memory came back. "Oh."

"You remember now?"

She nodded, staring at the phone in her hand as if it had suddenly transformed into the President's pet anaconda, Natsuko.

"So what is causing you to be so busy that you don't have time for your best friend until next Wednesday?"

How to proceed, how to proceed... She had already let Yashiro-san in on the secret, which President heartily disapproved of. To be a pro actress, she must fool her friends before she could fool her enemies, and lead them through believing it must be someone else.

Wait a second. Fool her enemies? She could fool her enemies. If she was top notch, she'd be able to fool not only Kanae, but also Shotaro. That's it! That was the answer! All she had to do was envelop herself so much into Setsuka's character that nothing he did would break through her barriers. She had improved at character building, and Setsu was a lot more defined than the measly attempt of a Kogal classmate she had tried to disguise herself with in the beginning of the Prisoner PV.

First things first though. How best to fool Kanae?

"I'm going on location for a shoot," she replied confidently.

Kanae tilted her head. "Box-R is going on location?"

"Uh, no. Not Box-R." She didn't want to have Moko-san ask Amamiya-san randomly about it, and get ratted out. But what other project could she claim? She hadn't started even pre-production meetings for her next bully role, even though she had accepted one, hoping to be done with Box-R and Tragic Marker soon after it started.

"Kimagure Rock?" Kanae seemed even more skeptical.

"No. Definitely not," objected Kyoko automatically, before she realized that she wasn't officially working on any other regular project.

"Then who are you going on location with?" asked Kanae suspiciously.

The pretty actress wouldn't accept the fact that Kyoko had to keep it secret, that she was sure of. She could almost hear the threat now. _I'm not going to talk to you for a year unless you share your secret with me._ Nooo! MOKO-SAN! Kyoko got so lost in this possible outcome, she extended her arm to her friend, withering away before Kanae's wary gaze.

"Kyoko! Mo! Snap out of it!"

"Eh?" That's right. It hadn't happened yet. But just because that fact was true didn't mean it would never happen. "Moko-san, I'm sorry. I can't tell you about it quite yet. I'll tell you soon, though."

"Next Wednesday?"

Kyoko nodded, eager to get away from the dangerous conversation before she really spoiled things. She had just realized that she had promised a later and most likely total reveal to her best friend, but she had to tell Moko-san at some point, didn't she? And that was better than worrying the beautiful actress over nothing. Plus Tsuruga-san had mentioned that she could classify the Setsuka job as part of her "dangerous assignment" to help the other girls not worry about her so much.

"Fine." Kanae debated on pouting, but she had too much dignity to do that just to know things earlier. "So what is the deal with your phone?"

Kyoko frowned down at the electronic device in her hand. "Um, Moko-san, I'm gonna have to ask President for a new number."

Kanae stared in shock. "A new number? Again? Eh, _why_?"

Kyoko's frown had morphed into a full-on pout. "An evil cockroach keeps calling me."

An evil cockroach. Really? Sometimes Kyoko was just too strange. "Cockroach. I see," the actress said aloud, in spite of the fact that she had no clue what her friend was talking about. How in the world would there be a cockroach that could physically operate a phone? Oh. Hang on. It would make complete sense if... Yes. That must be it. Kanae felt relieved. Her childhood fake friend. She was hiding and lying about Fuwa Sho. That would be the only cause of something to hide from both Kanae and Tsuruga-san. Just like when she was debating over the Mio offer and Kanae had to forcibly drag the information out of her.

"Kyoko," Kanae began warily. "Did Fuwa Sho ask you to take part in another PV?"

"WHAT?" Kyoko's genuine shock and surprise overrode the chills at this newest close sneak-attack. "But, Moko-san, you know that I don't—I can't—Moko-san!"

"Kyoko, it's not good to hide your feelings this way."

"But—!"

"Or your jobs," finished Kanae sternly.

"—No, Moko-san!"

"No. I know the truth now. I've guessed it. You might as well just acknowledge the fact." Kanae faced her friend. "You accepted Fuwa Sho's PV and are freaking out on how to tell Tsuruga-san."

She opened and closed her mouth soundlessly. The problem Kyoko was facing in clearing up this misunderstanding was that Kanae's guess wasn't entirely incorrect. She _would_ have to interact with Fuwa Sho, and it _would_ be because of one of his PV's. She wasn't technically acting _in_ it, though she was acting a complementary role to Ren's Cain Heel who _was_ acting in the PV. Her freaking out over Tsuruga-san was a completely different and unrelated issue. Well, alright, not completely unrelated, however, that just sent her swirling into the darkness some more. How in the world could she explain something like this? Especially when parts of it are super top-secret. And especially to someone who thought that just because her phone happened to be off, she didn't want to sleep over last night? Kyoko pouted at this last thought. Before, she had been persistent, even to calling the Okami-san. If she had tried that last night, the message might have reached Kyoko in time.

"Fine. I'll tell you what I can tell you next Wednesday," Kyoko said steadily. Kanae seemed to accept this answer and walked off saying that she'd reserve a karaoke room for the two of them. Kyoko laughed, and agreed, reasoning to herself, that she might not be able to talk there about it, no matter how private those rooms were. Rumors always seemed to leak out so quickly.

However, if she could fool Moko-san, she could fool Shotaro. That thought brought such hope along with it. She knew the facts. He had known her for much longer than Moko-san or anyone in Tokyo, and he knew all her weak points, but even that time at the gas station... Yes, she'd been able to fool him then, just by changing her voice, and her haircut and color. Even at the start of the Prisoner PV job, she'd managed to hide her identity successfully until the salt incident and the Odette make-up.

Maybe by transforming herself into Setsuka, she could fully fool him and it wouldn't hurt anything at all. It couldn't harm the movie project, and it couldn't harm Tsuruga-san. In fact, it would make Tsuruga-san proud of her as a fellow actor. She just had to act as Setsu long enough for the filming to be done and that shouldn't take more than a day.

She would be Setsuka, she would fully immerse herself in the role. So much so that he would never break her out of character. It would have to be even better than the profile from Tragic Marker, because even then, she had trouble watching from Setsu's shoulder occasionally. She'd just have to envelop herself so much in the role, that not even Ren could break her out. She had to step up her game that much, and she would. Because this was the only way that she could protect the movie project, protect Tsuruga-san, and protect Cain Heel, her brother.

Kyoko suddenly glanced at the hanging clock. Good, her current mission was accomplished and she still had another hour before she needed to be at the studio, filming Box-R.

* * *

Sho looked at his phone in disgust and amazement. What in the world was going on with her? He had taken full advantage of the fact that Shoko had left him alone in the dressing room to go get some drinks before they wrapped up this particular CM by immediately calling Kyoko's number. Sho couldn't figure this out.

Foremost in his mind was her previous avoidance of his phone calls, because he still hadn't figured out how she'd deduced they were from him. The last time she'd answered his silent calls she'd suggested both Tsuruga and the Beagle, which was really annoying and caused him to break that rule of silence so she'd know it was him calling, but even the mistaken identity was not nearly as vexing as this absolute silence from her. What had he done that deserved the silent treatment?

Yes, he had gotten her rather riled when he had taken her to TBM, but that was really rather normal, all things considered. Completely and absolutely normal, for if he didn't make her angry, she wouldn't think of him so often. But that still didn't disguise the fact that he had tricked her into a date, of sorts.

He had to laugh softly to himself. Being Kyoko, she probably didn't think of that as a date, but that certainly was what Shoko had classified that interaction as being. It sounded nice, didn't it? A date with Kyoko.

What was he thinking! Sho pounded his head. Why would _he_ have to try so hard to fight for a date with that plain, boring, childhood friend? Ugh. He was not a man in love. Surely not. He was not fantasizing about her at all.

And so the response he had just gotten was… odd, if anything. It wasn't like he had been expecting something to have happened. And if, _if_, something did, it certainly wouldn't be the way he was anticipating it. It was Kyoko after all.

However, hearing her yell, "No! No! No! Where's the off button? Turn it off! Turn it off!" immediately upon answering his call, which he had to assume was entirely accidental based on her reaction, was so unsatisfying. Even more than screaming at her in her voicemail.

So she certainly was realizing the calls were from him, even though he had checked and made sure his phone was concealing the caller id. Sho leaned back, tapping the phone against his chin, wondering if that was the precise reason she was successfully avoiding his calls. If he was the only one she didn't have the number saved for, she could avoid the calls by logical deduction. It didn't explain why she had answered all the calls prior to the silent treatment, but even if she had the number saved, Sho knew he wouldn't successfully reach her in any case.

The trials of a teenage heart.

No! No! Not _his_ heart! No! Definitely not. This had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with making sure she would actually act in this PV.

So why couldn't he find her? She hadn't been to school in what seemed like ages. Fine, it was four days or so. And the last time Pochi mailed him and helped him nab her from running away. Sho sunk lower into his lazy posture, frowning. He had just remembered that the little puppy wouldn't spy for him again until he compensated with the kiss he had promised. How annoying. In some ways, she reminded him of the old Kyoko, and in others he wished he just still had the old Kyoko around. Though Pochi was more intriguing in some ways, he was really missing those pudding cups. And her bento boxes expertly prepared with all his favorites instead of the sweet tamagoyaki crap Pochi made him. It was torture receiving a bento box from Pochi.

Well, there was another thing he wanted to avoid thinking about. Bento boxes and Tsuruga receiving them. Definitely shouldn't think about that. It just brought back all his rotten imaginations from when he had heard they were filming Dark Moon together. The mental agony.

So, anyway, how could he figure out where she is? He couldn't show up randomly at LME, because if she was working her jobs there, he wouldn't be able to get a hold of her in any case. Somehow, there might be a chance she's at school, but Pochi's usually good at following through on the whole spy thing even without the reward.

As far as making sure that she is actually on set, that would be impossible. He had no clue where that new drama she's in is supposed to be filming. He had done a little snooping and found out the name was Box L or Box R or something like that. And it wasn't like he could do much else, as he was busy. He had interview after interview, another CM coming up after they wrapped this one, plus preparing his band for his sold-out concert later next month, and prepping for the PV.

But even that amount of work still left him free time.

He wasn't nearly as busy as they claimed both she and Tsuruga were. But just the fact that they were busy didn't really mean a whole lot, did it? When you came down on it, Sho probably put a couple hours into writing a song down, a bit more to polish it up, then a few days practicing before it was ready to record and put on the shelves. The whole process turned out a song that was three to five minutes long. That was the life of a musician. An actor probably spent days and months on a two-hour long movie, and longer on the dramas. So when you put the time in proportion, it was easier to skip ahead of the game and straight to the top of the entertainment industry as a musician.

He sighed. Why did he have this innate sense that a rejection was coming? Was it because she'd just shouted that at his phone call? He'd known she had been ignoring him, but purposefully turning it off so that he couldn't even register a message for her was driving him insane. Admittedly all he would probably do in the message would be to take some frustration out and yell at her. And also personally invite her to work in his PV. No, not invite… _challenge_ her. Yes, challenge her to take part in the PV.

Miruki was being annoying about trying to avoid offering her the job. So what if she had a point as far as his scenes with her needing to be redone just because he hadn't remembered to close his eyes. It was irritating! Both she and Shoko kept harping on that time and again whenever he brought up possibly asking Kyoko back for another PV. He did not become a musician to be critiqued about his expression. And he was a good musician. That was his strong point. Let nobodies like that pin-head actor, and that plain shape-shifting demon control their expressions. He didn't have to all the time.

Then why was he so frustrated? He had stopped himself from going over to the Daruma-ya and checking on her at night. She thinks he never paid attention to her, but he knows her all too well. He knew precisely where she would go as soon as he pulled out of that mansion apartment. But quite honestly, it would be quite a distance to walk all the way from Shoko's apartment. Which was a good restraint most days. If only he could guarantee that she would be there, he'd make Shoko stop off there… randomly… for a meal of some sort. Although traditional Japanese restaurants always got on his nerves, reminding him too much of home. Must be why Kyoko likes them so much. She was made for that world.

The memory of his parents and the ryokan was enough to keep him away from most traditional restaurants. But the Daruma-ya he could see himself going into, perhaps. If only to prove that his fan base is larger than she'll ever reach. If only he could make certain she was there and safe from that monster of an actor.

Dark Moon was finished, though, and that was a relief. The two wouldn't be working so closely together anymore. And Kyoko had a ways to go before she reached Sho's level, let alone thought herself worthy of Tsuruga's league. And she will never reach that goal. Never.

"Sho!" called Shoko's voice.

Sho jerked up, surprised. "What is it?"

Shoko looked worn out, as she set down on the table the papers she had been carrying. "I've been calling you for the last five minutes."

"Really? Odd." He shrugged, dismissing the rebuke. "What did you need, Shoko?"

Warily, Shoko began with the inevitable news. "We've heard from LME."

Her charge noticeably perked up, straightening even further into a sitting position. "Oh, you have, have you?"

"Yes. Kyoko-chan won't be able to work in the PV." Shoko nervously eyed her charge, sure this information would turn him into a demon for sure.

Sho sighed, and slumped back. Rejection. He had known that this was coming. "And why not?" he asked shortly. What excuse had she come up with?

"Because she has a job conflict."

"Job conflict?" Sho parroted. He shrugged. "You did tell the agency we could just film on another day… right? One that works for her highness?"

"Apparently, that won't work. Our antagonist—Mr. Heel, I believe is his name—is only available that day."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" burst out Sho, sounding for all the world like a spoiled brat. "He has no other days available?"

"No," confirmed Shoko. "Oh, and he will be bringing a translator with him."

The musician looked at his manager as if she were the one speaking a foreign language. "Why would he need that?"

Shoko let out a little giggle, partly in relief at the fact that her charge hadn't exploded in rage and anger, and partly at the agency's own folly. "Without really knowing it, we managed to hire an Englishman."

"What?"

"Yes, he's English. He does have Japanese heritage, but he's only in Tokyo to film a movie called Tragic Marker. Which was one of the reasons he only has that day free."

"I see… " Those were the only words he could spit out without showing his frustration too openly. He mentally swore. All his efforts to get in touch with her had been worth nothing. Even his efforts on making sure she would be the heroine for this song would be worthless. He had been trying to create the proper environment, and without Kyoko this play-by-play for the PV wouldn't have the same effect. So why should he commit himself to those ideas if Kyoko wasn't going to be in it? He certainly didn't want to do that one scene with a different actress.

That was the problem with writing love songs. There was always a girl involved in the PV. Or two girls. It had helped his image, the picture of two girls fighting over him. This really was the first time they were doing things with a male antagonist. However, with Kyoko not being there, it didn't feel worth the effort to have the kiss scene or all the princessy nonsense. _That_ was made purely to torture her, since he knew how irresistible she found all of that fairy tale stuff.

"Sho? Is everything okay?" came Shoko's worried voice, cutting into his thoughts once more. "Asami-san was able to locate another actress for your PV."

"Fine," he dismissed immediately, really not interested now that the conversation had moved from his childhood friend. "Great."

Well, Kyoko was busy, was she? He sighed. How was he going to locate her now?

"Sho, we need to go. You'll be going on soon."

"Ah. Yes."

* * *

During Box-R's lunch break, while the five girls were conversing, Kyoko gave a little sneeze, unintentionally interrupting Makino's story about something that had happened the previous day on set.

"Kyoko-san, you're not coming down with a cold are you?" teased Chiori, smiling.

Kyoko laughed in response. "I hope not."

Makino grinned and added her support. "Nacchan really doesn't seem like the type of girl that could just get sick."

"That's true." Kyoko acknowledged. Though what she really couldn't imagine was catching a cold while she was playing Setsu, and needing Cain to take care of her. She shuddered, resolving not to catch a cold, no matter what.

At the next break in the conversation, Chiori suddenly dropped her chopsticks and said, "Kyoko-san! I almost forgot to tell you! Yoshimoto-san informed me of a job offer this morning."

"Really?" inserted Rumi.

"What kind of job, Chiorin?" asked Makino.

"Oh? Did you accept?" Kyoko was surprised and a little confused. While she felt pleased that Amamiya-san was excited about her work, this sort of went against the reason she felt it was necessary to wear the pink curse at LME, didn't it? Was Amamiya-san going to be in and out of the Love-Me section much faster than either she or Moko-san?

"Yes. It's a PV," Chiori said, smiling at Kyoko's blatantly confused face. Really, that girl was so oblivious to the transparency of her own reactions sometimes. "Actually, the reason I'm excited about it, is I get to follow in my sempai's footsteps a little more."

"Chiorin, who are you talking about?" asked Rumi.

"My sempai in the Love Me Section, of course," said Chiori smiling sweetly as she gazed steadily across the table.

Kyoko flushed. "Amamiya-san…" she started to protest humbly, trying to gently correct the girl who, in spite of living fifteen years in the entertainment world, insisted on calling her, the newbie talento of only a year, sempai.

"It's alright, Kyoko-san," said Chiori. "This PV should raise me closer to your level, after all. I've been in a V-cine before, but you've only done the one PV, correct?"

"Well, yes," mumbled Kyoko. She didn't like to think about that particular PV any more than she had to. To think, she'd soon be going back into that environment and fooling Asami-san and Shoko-san as well as Shotaro this next time. They of course would see only Setsuka-chan. And her older brother, Cain. It was worrying though. She didn't want to have to break up a fight between Nii-san and Sho. Hopefully the two had enough professionalism to get through the day without fighting.

"And to participate in a PV with the same artist that Kyoko-san did is a great honor, ne?" Chiori had continued.

Kyoko froze. Please, no. Same artist? Surely not. That fool of an idiot couldn't have hired Chiori as his actress in the PV, right? This could not be happening.

A chill in the lunchroom caused the temperature to suddenly fall to the subzero range, sending chills through everyone. Some of the crew members commented on the abrupt drop, while looking around for the air conditioning unit controls.

"You'll work with _which_ artist?" Kyoko checked, just to make sure she had heard properly.

"The singer, Fuwa Sho."

At the sound of his name, her demons launched and started to circle the table where the girls were sitting, the atmosphere interrupting the congratulations the other girls were giving Chiori for the offer, and Rumi-chan started to shiver harder.

_"What shall we do, Mistress?"_

_"She said the idiot's name, and was excited to work in his PV."_

_"But it wouldn't really be fair to curse her, after all, we will be in the fool's presence as well."_

_"If it isn't Amamiya-san, it will only be some other poor unfortunate soul."_

_"What should we do, Mistress?"_

"Then," Kyoko paused, evaluating. Chiori didn't fall into the usual categories of Shotaro's interests. So she should be safe enough from the true attentions of that playboy. "Show that idiot your professional dedication."

"Eh?" asked Makino.

"Did Kyoko-san just call someone a baka?" whispered Rumi-chan in shock. "Is she Nacchan right now?"

"I don't think so," muttered Sudo, shuddering. "She's giving off rather a Mio aura right now, don't you think?"

"Ah, I see what you mean," agreed Rumi. "Although the chill has finally died somewhat now."

Ignoring the other girls, Chiori nodded, determined. "Don't worry about me. I can do that much."

Kyoko nodded in return. The other girls continued to chat, but she fell into her silent musings.

This was awful, Kyoko moaned to herself. Not that she begrudged Amamiya-san her work offer. Of course she didn't. But Kyoko would be on set as Setsuka-chan, with Cain, Sho, _and_ Chiori. The only good thing was that she had time to mentally prepare. How in the world did she get herself into these kinds of messes? There might be something after all to what Tsuruga-san had said about teasing gods.

Oh, and she still somehow has to hide her feelings from Tsuruga-san himself.

Let this part of the day be a bad dream.

That would be wonderful.

But the bad dream idea was definitely a flight of fancy. This was her life after all.

So, not only would she have to stay true to Setsuka for Tsuruga-san's identity to be protected, she would have to fool Shotaro, Shoko, Asami-san, _and_ Amamiya-san. And fooling Chiori was going to be _really_ hard. Would it be harder than fooling Shotaro? Maybe not. Chiori didn't know her that well, yet. Her eyes suddenly widened in horror at a sudden memory. She knows Kyoko has a connection to someone with Setsu's style. She had caught her buying the ero-kawa underwear for Setsu after all.

Would Chiori make that connection from the vague description of Setsu that she had given at the time? Did she actually have enough information to pierce through the armour of Setsu? Kyoko breathed deeply, glad she had found this out before the crucial day. It was possible to fix that oversight.

Basically, Kyoko had to make sure there was a background prepared where Setsu had met Kyoko through Love Me work. She didn't even have to bring it up, unless Amamiya-san said something to her, but it would be good to have something prepared. Would she have time to warn Ren about this development? She would see him late tonight, but only as Cain. It was troublesome, to say the least, to think of a way Setsu had information that only was told to Kyoko.

Maybe she could cook him dinner tonight… No, thinking over his maniac schedule as Tsuruga Ren during Cain Heel's off-days he would be lucky if he had enough time to eat a bento in between shoots. It was worrying to her, but she couldn't possibly go find him and make him eat tonight. She'd be on the Box-R set herself tonight until it was time to change into the Heel siblings. And in a way, Kyoko was glad. It would be a while before she could pretend to interact normally with Tsuruga-san outside of their roles. Yesterday she judged to be more of a fluke.

She couldn't warn Tsuruga-san, but at least she knew she wasn't dealing with Nanokura Mimori again. That was a relief.

Hm, so might as well focus on that back story. How does Setsu know Kyoko? What kind of Love-Me job would the young girl ask Kyoko to do?

Well, fact was, she did meet Cain Heel as part of Love Me work. Hm, if Setsu had existed at that moment outside of Kyoko, where would she have been?

"Rumi-chan, everyone, we're ready for scene 51," the assistant director announced, preventing her from speculating further.

"Ah, yes," was the general murmur of assent.

"You make the most interesting expressions when you're silently thinking, Kyoko-san," commented Chiori in a low voice as everyone filed back into the studio. "It makes me wonder what you were thinking about."

"Oh, that," Kyoko giggled nervously. "Nothing really. Just freaking myself out."

"Alright," Chiori accepted easily. "Ready, Nacchan?"

"Ready, Yumika."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the marvelous response to the first three chapters! And sorry for the late update on this one. I kept being vaguely dissatisfied with it without really knowing what I wanted to change. So hopefully this version works the way I want it to. And next chapter is the PV!

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And tell me if you like it. ^_^


	5. Intimidation

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

A/N: I will use Ren's and Kyoko's and the Heel Siblings's names almost interchangeably. Also, I have tried my best to state which language they are speaking in with the context. If there are still confusing conversations, let me know in a review or a PM and I'll fix it.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

**Chapter Five: Intimidation**

* * *

Cain paused outside of Queen Records, in order to have a last private chat with his sister before they went in. Setsu's expression as they had walked here had worsened from her more typical disdain to outright worry.

"Setsu, is something wrong?" asked Ren.

Kyoko shook her head resolutely. "Nothing's wrong Brother. What makes you think that?"

He raised a hand to stroke her cheek. "You look worried about something."

"Ah," Kyoko tilted her head, and giggled slightly. "I'm just not looking forward to having to share Brother with even more people."

Considering that, and accepting it, Ren let a ghost of a smile touch his lips. "I wonder if this musician's English is any better than Murasame's," muttered Ren, continuing to stroke his thumb along her cheek and chin.

Instinctively knowing the answer, Kyoko began to shake her head, before she caught herself and said, "I doubt it."

"Then, shall we play a game this time, Setsu?" he asked.

"Eh?" She almost didn't want to know what he meant by that. The last time he had mentioned playing around her, was when he pinched her cheek for making trouble.

"It will also help you with talking too politely," he offered, before explaining his idea.

Upon hearing it, Setsu began to giggle again. "Why not? I think I'll like this particular game, Brother."

"Knowing you, I thought you would."

Satisfied now, Cain trudged into Queen Records with his sister following merrily after, clinging to his arm lovingly.

Stares followed them wondering who was brave enough to show up for work in the black leather clothing the two siblings wore.

* * *

In a conference room at Queen Records, Sho sat, impatiently rapping his fingertips against the table. The cording for a newer song flowed through his head while the group waited.

The actress and her manager sat slightly more calmly than the musician after having introduced themselves to the Akatoki staff. The two were occupying the excess time with a discussion of scheduling, of which Sho felt slightly envious, at least as far as having something productive to occupy themselves with while they waited for the antagonist to show up.

A sudden flashback to the beginning of the Prisoner PV filming stilled his fingers. "Miruki, you don't suppose they got sent to the wrong room, do you?"

Asami pursed her lips. "I'm sure the receptionists learned their lesson from last time."

Sho debated within himself, before finally giving into the whim to give himself a distraction, even if it turned out to be a complete waste of time. He consoled himself that either way would be a waste of time, and he was better off spending the time moving, than sitting around like some lame duck. He sighed heavily as he lazily stood. "I'll go check anyway."

Shoko, who had been standing in a corner of the room checking messages on her phone, and Asami exchanged an intrigued glance. Amamiya-san and her manager didn't even spare Sho a glance as he walked over towards the door.

It was vexing, to say the least. The actress didn't seem in any way aware of his presence. It was not the response he was used to getting from girls. Even Kyoko, in her hatred, was at least _aware_ of him.

His jaw clenched at the reminder that the leading actress in this PV should have been his childhood friend. And desperate not to follow that train of thought any longer, he stretched out his hand to the door of the conference room, and was surprised to see the handle turn before he could touch it.

The door opened, to reveal a dark haired man, taller than Sho, dressed in all black, and wearing a leather duster. The aura surrounding the dangerous man chilled and intimidated everyone in the room and Sho took a few unconscious steps back away from the door.

Cain Heel brushed past the young singer, heading for a chair at the closest end of the table, and then looked expectantly at his sister who had followed him through the doorway and then had paused to glance in disdainful pity at the singer's obvious shock. "Setsu, Konoe is not here to introduce us," pointed out Ren in English.

Setsu rolled her eyes before striding over to where Cain had pulled out his chair, leaning on his shoulder with her hands. "They know who you are," she retorted. "They hired you, after all."

Sho found himself frozen, still staring dumbfounded at the spot the tall man had entered from. He jerked his head slightly to process what he could from the English conversation, which wasn't much. He berated himself. If only he would have known when he was younger that learning the stupid lessons, which Kyoko always had taken so much time revising for, would come in so handy as a musician. He then fully turned from the door and attempted to observe the reactions of the others in the room.

Amamiya-san was staring at the newcomer girl with unabashed curiosity. Her manager's face looked appalled at the style of clothing the two were dressed in. Shoko was obviously just as much in shock as Sho himself was, and Miruki was startled, but her expression quickly faded as she watched the newcomers interact.

Sho stomped over to his previously vacated seat, annoyance at being so easily startled and intimidated coursing through his body. He sat down, rather more forcefully than he usually would, but his pride wouldn't allow him to adjust his seating in order to get farther away from the scary actor. He purposefully kept his eyes trained on the blank wall as Miruki tried to make overtures to the foreign pair, trying to regain his absolute unconcern with anything that didn't have to do with his music.

Kyoko was letting Asami's words of greeting wash over Setsu without much of a response, busy silently congratulating herself on doing so well so far, as she had responded in a Setsu manner without letting loose any of her demons in spite of seeing her enemy face to face. Ren was also pleased, both to see Kyoko act so well, and for the protection her presence afforded him in order to restrain Kuon's darkness. He repressed a shudder at the thought of the dangerous and altogether too possible outcome that could have happened when Cain caught sight of Fuwa's hated face.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are Heel-san?" asked Asami into the silence a minute after the actor settled in his chair.

The tall man turned his head slightly, and the young girl leaned even closer and whispered a translation into his ear, before he turned back to Asami and nodded once in confirmation.

"Then it's very nice to meet you, Heel-san. I'm Asami Haruki, and the talents you will be working with today are Fuwa Sho and Amamiya Chiori." She gestured to the musician and actress also sitting at the conference room table as she said their names, and got absolutely no reaction out of the foreign pair.

As the silence dragged on and Asami's face took on a flustered bluish tint, Cain glanced back at his sister. "Are they expecting you to say something?"

Setsu sighed, and for the first time, spoke in Japanese, "This is Heel Cain, and I am Setsuka. Please take care of us."

Ren caught her dissatisfied mutter in English afterwards and had to suppress a smirk. "Brother challenged me to not be so polite, so why does he then put me in a situation where I can't help but be polite to strangers?"

Sho tilted his head slightly. He couldn't understand why it was when he heard the routine Japanese introduction he had somehow heard the tones of Kyoko's voice coming from this drastically different girl. He frowned, reminded of his musings on the shape-shifting soul-sucker. He then cynically dismissed the idea, chalking it up to his obsession with getting in touch with the girl and his unfounded worry about her.

There was absolutely no way Kyoko would be here. She was at work, after all, he reminded himself darkly. It didn't mean a thing that the two girls would have the same vocal range. Kyoko's vocal range was exceedingly common in girls as he had easily discovered after the incident where she had thrown Moz burgers and fries at his head.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Sho demanded, interrupting Asami's stammered reply to the actor's girlfriend.

"Yes, indeed," agreed the actress on his other side, who, whether due to her distance from the tall actor or her focus on the girl, didn't seem to internalize the fear that had intimidated her manager, Sho, Shoko, and Asami. "What is the storyline for this PV, Asami-san?"

Smiling gratefully at the young teen for the opening, Asami immediately put on her professional face as well. "It will have the feel of a period drama. There will be love shared between the young hero and heroine, which will be forbidden by her samurai father. They continue to defy his wishes and meet secretly, until finally the hero and father stage a mock battle which the heroine interrupts and is accidentally injured. It will end as her father allows the young lovers to leave together."

Setsu dutifully translated all of the description to English for her brother's ears just in case someone in the room had better language skills than they anticipated. Kyoko resolved not to fall prey to romanticizing the plot like she usually would, at least until Setsu was in private. Thankfully, Cain quickly leaned over and whispered a question in her ear for her to ask, distracting her mind.

"Nii-san wants to know when we'll start filming," she announced.

"Nii-san?" parroted Sho in his surprise. He wasn't a complete fool after all, but the pair didn't look like they shared any genes. The teen was attractive, and dressed in tantalizingly revealing clothing. The guy was older, but had created a bubble around the two of them. Sho hadn't been blind to their casual affectionate touches that certainly would have embarrassed a traditional Japanese couple, let alone siblings. He was understandably shocked at the new information that this couple was blood related rather than dating.

Setsu ignored the musician by listening to Asami's explanation of filming times, while Cain glared in his direction.

Glancing toward the English actor, Sho had a sudden flashback to the parking garage at TBM where he had faced off with Tsuruga. He suppressed a shiver at the memory of Tsuruga's glare, and pretended to return his attention to listening to Asami explaining the schedule of filming.

He knew one thing for certain. This was going to be a very long day for him.

* * *

As the group divided up bentos for a quick lunch, Kyoko and Ren had secluded themselves into a corner of the room. Ren had used the excuse of not having had time to find an unused room to isolate Cain and Setsu in, but knew that the talk that went on during the unguarded moments of cast and crew must be something he had to listen for. Ren had no allies here besides Kyoko that could listen for him and tell him what the cast and crew of the PV said. He had to find out who had leaked the connection between Cain Heel and LME. And who was connecting Cain Heel to the role of BJ.

At the beginning of lunch Setsu had cutely pouted, "I miss your dressing room at Tragic Marker," and Cain had nearly lost it, willing to give up everything and please his sister with their own private area. But the comments from the other talents and managers were too valuable to this mission. He didn't want to continue to impose on Kyoko and make her tag along on so many unpaid jobs if Cain Heel continued to get offers. He had to nip this in the bud, and so settled for the far corner of the conference room.

"So, Amamiya-san, I heard you are in Box R," commented Shoko as a way to break the cool distance between the talents. "What part do you play?"

As Shoko had anticipated, Sho glanced up at the mention of Kyoko's newest drama. The actress allowed herself a smile. "I am one of Natsu's group. She's the main bully played by Kyoko-san."

"Really? So, you know Kyoko?" verified Sho.

Chiori raised her eyebrows at the lack of honorific, but simply said, "She's my senpai."

Ren took the opportunity to glance at Kyoko, not surprised by the actress's declaration, but concerned that the proud acknowledgement might cause Setsu to break character, and well prepared to distract her if necessary, but Setsu only smiled back at him. "Eat up, or I'll be tempted to go and buy groceries while you're trapped on set for dinner," she playfully threatened.

"I'll eat, though I still like your food best," he declared.

She giggled. "Of course you do."

Yoshimoto looked curiously at her talent before chiming in on the other conversation, "You call Kyoko-san your senpai?"

"Of course. She has been in the Love Me Section the longest. Although I suppose that Moko-san—er, Kotonami-san—has been a member almost just as long."

This time, Kyoko couldn't help biting the inside of her cheek to help her keep from reacting when she heard Chiori's slip. It was one thing for Maria-chan to copy her Onee-sama's nickname for Kanae, and another to hear that it was being used by Love Me Number Three as well.

"Love Me Section…" Sho muttered. He had a sudden vision of Kyoko's blindingly pink jumpsuit she had shown up in for the Prisoner PV. "I thought that was just an LME thing. Does Soft Hat do it too?"

Chiori smiled. "No, I worked out a deal with both Presidents so I could be a part of something that has influenced Kyoko-san."

"Ah, I see," said Shoko.

Sho looked away, feigning disinterest once more as he ate a few more bites.

Chiori looked around the table, then resolutely declared, "I have learned much from her already, and I promise to work together on this project as professionally as my senpai would."

This statement resulted in a short burst of amusement from Asami, Shoko, and Sho. Asami then tried to explain to the offended actress, "Please don't misunderstand. Kyoko-chan is a doll, a very talented actress, and in any other situation extraordinarily professional."

Shoko added after trying to calm her smile, "She just has an interesting relationship with Sho."

"Shoko, stop saying it that way. You make it sound as if we were dating," objected Sho, rolling his eyes, oblivious to the newly clenched hands of Cain.

Setsu, however, noticed, and gently laid her hands atop his. When he looked up at her, she silently and slowly shook her head.

"We're not; and we never will." The words Ren had wanted to hear from Kyoko to soothe his jealous heart were this time spoken by Fuwa, who sounded increasingly petulant the longer the subject stayed on Ren's favorite kouhai.

"It just prevents her from being at her _most_ professional when they're together," Shoko said, resolving to wait until they were in private before delving once more into the relationship between her charge and his childhood friend. She had assumed that dinner with Kyoko had turned into a date, but Sho had been worrying about her for some time now with no resolution that she had noticed.

Chiori considered this, resolving to question Kyoko about her relationship with Fuwa Sho the next time she avoided the question of how she was spending her time. She smiled once more and mused aloud, "Perhaps that's one reason why she is so attached to Tsuruga Ren."

Kyoko's eyes snapped up. No! Surely the reveal of her feelings for Tsuruga-san wouldn't come from Amamiya-san! Please no!

Shoko winced. Chiori had stumbled upon quite possibly the worst potential statement the actress could have made in the hearing of Fuwa Sho.

"_What_ did you just say?" growled Sho.

Chiori looked disdainfully confused and shook her head. Maybe Fuwa-san was the stalker Kyoko had mentioned once getting involved with. "Never mind." Fuwa didn't need to know what Makino-san and Chiori had deduced right after the car accident on the Dark Moon set.

Ren twisted his hands in order to hold Kyoko's which had still been resting on his. Kyoko had been staring at Chiori with wide eyes until the moment she remembered herself and switched her attention back to him. "Setsu? Do you know of either of the people she's talking about?"

"Well," Kyoko paused. It wasn't Amamiya-san asking, but she had prepared the background for the meeting between Setsu and Kyoko... No, the conversation hadn't mentioned any pink clothing, and that was supposed to be the trigger for Setsu's memory. But she had to say something, as she had definitely reacted to the conversation. "You can't go anywhere in Japan without hearing of Mr. Tsuruga. He seems to be the only one that's even close to Brother's level."

"Is that so?"

Sho ground his teeth. Now they had gotten the two English siblings talking about Tsuruga.

"Ah," exclaimed Asami, suddenly standing. "There's no more time to waste. I need to get you three to Costume and Make-up as soon as possible. Please finish quickly."

Sho stood and exited the room, followed shortly by Chiori and her manager, while Cain continued to sit and poke at his food. Setsu gazed at her brother, wondering how long he'd delay the shoot.

"Heel-san, I'll show you and Setsuka-san the way," offered Shoko.

As practice for not being so overly polite, Setsu decided to eat a few more bites and force her brother to react first to the offer. In the silence that stretched, a flustered Shoko leaned over and whispered to Asami, "Why did we hire an Englishman?"

Ah, realized Kyoko, stealing another amazed glance at Tsuruga-san. His planning was perfect yet again. He had to get all the information he could from them on why they had hired Cain before he started acting, because, of course, they'd be pleased with the effect his acting created and wouldn't question hiring him any longer.

Asami bit her lip before bending down and addressing Cain Heel directly. "Heel-san, I know that you bring your sister as a translator, but I was told that you are actually fluent in Japanese."

"Setsu, what idiot told her such a thing?" asked Cain almost before Setsu had finished the translation.

Kyoko hesitated, before repeating the question exactly in Japanese for Asami. Asami looked taken aback at the blunt insult to her informer.

"Er, well," she stammered.

Setsu smirked slightly. "Nii-san is a bit vexed. We had only come to Japan for filming Tragic Marker, and to have additional work piled on top of that is irritating. Please speak honestly on who informed you about my brother."

Asami stalled only a moment longer before saying, "Originally, we had asked Murasame Taira to be the antagonist, before we found out that he was the lead for Tragic Marker."

"Murasame?" repeated Cain and Setsu in cool surprise. They exchanged a glance before Cain said, "Cheese-brain is being even more annoying than I thought."

As Shoko looked horrified by the English insult, and Asami opened her mouth uncertainly, Setsu gracefully stood and Cain followed suit. "We'll just have to find a way to punish him appropriately, won't we, Brother," murmured Setsu as they left the room. Cain nodded.

Shoko glanced nervously at Asami. "Did we just sign that young man's death warrant?"

Asami frowned, staring at the door closing behind the two siblings. "I doubt Heel-san would interrupt filming drastically enough to kill the lead."

Yet the thought remained in both of the women's heads. _Would he?_

* * *

Setsu glanced up from examining her nails. Cain was currently allowing the make-up artist to add wrinkles to his forehead. "Somehow the scars seem more impressive," she muttered in Japanese before turning her gaze back to her nails.

"What are you doing in here anyway?" asked Sho tightly. He was currently eyeing her uncomfortably in his mirror from where he was sitting across the narrow room; a lady was arranging his hair.

Kyoko debated about ignoring him, but then decided to play the game that Cain had proposed at the outset. "I'm always with Brother, you miserable cockroach," she said sweetly in English.

Cain's lips twitched in amusement, but Sho looked at her in confusion. "Why can't you just speak Japanese to me when I ask you a question?"

"Replying in English is so much more fun, pig. I get to say lots of insulting things and watch you accept them like the idiot you are," was Setsu's light response.

"Three so far," agreed Cain. "Will you hit ten before the bastard gives it up?"

"Oh, I'm sure the fool has a lot more tenacity than that," sighed Setsu. "But I'm bored, so I might as well play Brother's game."

"Look, you're supposed to be the interpreter, so why are you answering my questions in a language I'm not fluent in?" asked Sho in irritation.

"It amuses me, and it amuses Brother, son of a dog."

"Stop doing that," pouted Sho.

"I don't think I will, douche bag," mused Setsu. "You're a terrible actor, and don't really have the right to share a stage with Brother. Jeez, you're more annoying than Cheese-brain."

"This is annoying. You're supposed to translate for him, not create a language barrier."

"It's not my fault you didn't study English when you were younger, wretch."

"There," murmured the make-up artist, and Setsu looked over, dismissing the petty game for interacting with her brother once more.

Setsu pursed her lips, evaluating the special makeup. "Hm. BJ's special makeup is certainly more impressive as far as drastic realism, but somehow…" she tilted her head. "You look a little more like Father now."

Ren froze. Father? Was she talking of the pretend patriarch of the Heel family? Or was she referencing Kuu Hizuri? He couldn't tell. He tried to trust that she wouldn't so easily slip into her role as Kuon, that she had more professionalism than that. So he uneasily dismissed his fear. There was no way a few wrinkles could make Cain Heel look more like Kuu. He desperately checked his reflection in the mirror in any case. Yes. He just looked more aged.

"How close will the camera be getting to Nii-san that you had to draw the wrinkles that thin?" Setsu asked of the make-up artist in Japanese.

"Oh, so _now_ you talk in a civilized manner," muttered Sho, entirely disgruntled now.

Cain glared at the reflection of the musician in his mirror. "Setsu? Can I squash the bug?"

Kyoko's eyes widened, and she spun away from the make-up artist, downplaying her concern with a giggle. "Brother, you know that there is no fighting allowed off-set."

Cain frowned. "Can I kill him with the fake sword on-set then?"

"Nii-san!" Setsu warned, exasperatedly switching back to Japanese. "No killing. Remember, there you have to either follow the script or improve it to the same end."

Sho quickly turned his head, earning an irritated glance from the lady attempting to fix his make-up after he had finished dressing in his costume. "I thought your brother doesn't speak Japanese," he said haughtily.

Setsu rolled her eyes. "Just because he chooses not to speak it, doesn't mean he can't understand it."

Sho frowned, "Why does he need you then?"

Setsu smirked. "Nii-san likes the sound of my voice, of course."

"Your costume is set over there," the make-up artist mentioned to Cain, who was then shocked at how quickly the man rose and appeared at his sister's side.

"Let's go, Setsu," he murmured close to Kyoko's ear. She tilted her head to look him over, and giggled. "What?" he asked sullenly.

"Brother, you've forgotten the other half of Wardrobe and Make-up. I may not be an actress, but I can't imagine a samurai father dressing in only those clothes." Cain looked down at himself, and sighed slightly. "Let me see. The rest of your costume should be around here somewhere… I think she said it was… Ah! Here, let me help you."

Setsu reverently draped the kimono over her brother's shoulders and continued helping him dress in the silence that followed. As she smoothed his clothing, her fingers brushed the side of his neck accidentally, and Kyoko tried hard not to react to the knowing look Cain sent her at her momentary hesitation there. She glanced at the spot, trying hard to look at it clinically, fighting the blush that threatened to rise to her cheeks.

"This spot might need a bit more foundation. After all, they're going for a widowed father, right?" Setsu said. "I think the kimono rubbed some make-up off." She hurriedly got Cain to sit back in his chair, and then turned to grab the make-up. She hovered over him, dabbing the powder to his neck gently, until she declared it finished and stepped back.

Sho was staring at the pair through his mirror with his mouth half open as this newest scene unfolded.

"Put these on!" hissed the make-up artist to him, finally shoving the various accessories into his stunned hands.

He had one thought cycling through his head as he put on the various jewelry. Was this what you would call typical behavior from foreigners? Surely not. These siblings had to be odd and out of place no matter where they were, let alone here in Japan.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the marvelous response to the other chapters! Sorry. I realized I was too excited last chapter. The technical shooting of the PV will be next chapter. But this was getting too long for me to include it with this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And tell me if you like it. ^_^


	6. Deception

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

A/N: As in the last chapter, I will use Ren's and Kyoko's and the Heel Siblings's names almost interchangeably. Also, I have tried my best to state which language they are speaking in with the context. If there are still confusing conversations, let me know in a review or a PM and I'll fix it.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

**Chapter Six: Deception**

* * *

Much to Kyoko's relief, Cain and Setsu left the dressing room together without Cain breaking the rules and fighting with Shotaro. She was also rather pleased that she had managed to insult him twenty times in English, before the fool had finally given up talking to her.

On set, the first section they filmed was a series of father-daughter scenes between Cain and Chiori. Kyoko had to really work at refraining from romanticizing her friend when she had seen Chiori in costume. It was a perfect princess-like kimono, and Chiori wore it well. Setsu watched with a disinterested expression from the sidelines as Cain and Chiori did several scenes—walking formally arm in arm, him watching over her from an upper story window as she picked flowers, and a picnic with the two of them under a Sakura tree. Kyoko was professionally interested in how they made sure the petals from the tree's flowers would artistically add to the scene rather than interfere with the expressions. But her curiosity was left partially unfulfilled as Setsu didn't care enough to ask about that sort of thing.

As soon as Asami nodded, smiling at the last take, Setsu crossed over to her brother with a bottle of water for him. He smiled at her and stroked her hair as a reward.

Chiori looked curiously over at them, but her manager intervened just as she started to take a step towards the couple.

"The next part is to show off Heel-san's samurai expertise. Come have a seat and rest for now."

Chiori's expression blanked at the interruption, then she smiled a little, and cutely shrugged. "Alright, that sounds good."

She allowed Yoshimoto-san to pull her away from the pair on set. But if Heel-san had another set of individual shots, that would mean that she could approach his sister, right? As soon as she had laid her eyes on Setsuka, she had suspected that fate had introduced her to the same girl that Kyoko-san had been buying underwear for.

She could now understand Kyoko's speechlessness when trying to describe her. Setsuka Heel was someone you just had to meet in order to fully understand the girl's impact.

To Chiori's surprise, Fuwa Sho had noticed her preoccupation with the siblings and he approached her only to say, "I wouldn't recommend it."

"What?" she responded in surprise.

"Talking to either one of them," he clarified with a dark look at the pair who were now listening to and interpreting the choreographer's directions.

Chiori pursed her lips. She would come to her own conclusions and only after she had confirmed her suspicions with Setsuka-san. "Why not?" she asked.

"They're extremely rude. Especially the girl."

Setsuka had come and returned to her seat, and Chiori shrugged off the warning in favor of talking with the girl. She had been guilty of wrongly judging Kyoko, and she had promised herself that she wouldn't listen to rumors just yet, especially if the girl was Kyoko's acquaintance, like she suspected.

"Excuse me," said Chiori softly. "I've been wondering if perhaps you knew my senpai."

The girl turned a blank expression to her. "Who's that?" Inside, Kyoko was breathing a sigh of relief. She had prepared for this moment and felt the ease of preparation giving her the confidence to carry out the scene perfectly.

"Kyoko-san." Chiori searched her face for some sort of recognition before going on. "I think her full name is…" she paused, trying to remember the family name that Tsuruga-san always used.

"Mogami Kyoko," interjected Fuwa Sho who was still standing nearby despite his warning to Chiori. "You know her?"

Setsu looked away, back towards the set on which her brother was practicing, with a bored expression. "The name doesn't sound familiar."

Chiori wrinkled her brow. "Really? Because I'm almost sure she was talking about you."

Setsu chuckled. "Hardly anyone here knows me. She's not part of Tragic Marker, and so I don't see how I could have met her."

"She does a lot of Love-Me work for various people," suggested Amamiya.

Fuwa turned to Chiori, exasperated. "What counts as Love-Me work anyway? Besides wearing that ridiculously pink work uniform—"

Setsu's eyes widened and she turned back to Chiori. "You're talking about the girl in the pink work uniform? The one that after seeing your eyes will never be the same?"

"Ah, you do know her!" Chiori grinned triumphantly. "I knew it!"

Setsu shrugged, and her eyes found Cain's figure again as she continued to talk. "Nii-san and I met her right after our plane arrived. She was late, scared of my brother after mistaking him for someone else, and almost didn't complete the task of taking the two of us to her company's President."

"Why was she late?" muttered Sho, finding this detail out of character.

"I don't know, idiot," Setsu switched to English once more, before returning to Japanese for Amamiya-san's convenience. "She did apologize, and promised to run any errands for us that we needed during our stay here."

"Ah, I see," said Chiori. She also hid a smile behind her hand at the obvious English insult to the star. "So the reason she bought clothes for you was to apologize as well?"

Setsu smirked. "The underwear, you mean?" Inside, Kyoko frowned in confusion. Why had she just said that? It would've been fine to leave it just as clothing, wouldn't it?

Chiori nodded. Fuwa looked slightly stunned, now wondering what Kyoko had gotten herself into.

"In a way, yes." Setsu's smile dropped. "Nii-san wasn't pleased with how often her phone would ring, and at all times of the day and night. He almost broke the phone at one point." She giggled. "The clothes for me made him less irritated."

Fuwa's eyes widened noticeably as she told this part of the tale. "She was apologizing for her phone ringing?"

"Brother's not easily pacified, pig," said Setsu, in English, of course.

Chiori snorted. "Animal from farm he is?" she asked in English as well.

Kyoko looked appraisingly at Amamiya-san. "You're catching on," she said, approvingly, before turning back to watch Cain's filming.

"What did you ask her?" asked Sho urgently.

"You don't know even that much English?" asked Chiori, surprised. "Is that really being flexible and competitive in this market where English is the language of the biggest consumers?"

As Fuwa opened and closed his mouth without making a sound, Setsu nodded, approvingly. "Ooh, Nii-san's done," she noticed, and rushed forward to greet her brother.

"Those two bothering you?" asked Cain.

Setsu shook her head. "No. They were just curious again about that girl we met in the blindingly pink uniform. Apparently she was Amamiya's senior."

Ren was confused. "My memory isn't that good, you'll have to remind me." Had they met Kotonami-san somewhere? What was Kyoko up to?

Setsu smirked. "Not noticing any other girls besides your cute little sister, that's good. But we were talking about the girl that was late picking us up the one time when we first got to this country."

Ren froze. They had been talking about Kyoko? With Kyoko? "As I remember it, you changed your mind about staying in England at the last second and followed me on the next flight." Wasn't _that_ the original story they had worked out?

"Yes, and thankfully, the girl took so long that I was able to find you not long after you scared her for being late, and I calmed you down again," Setsu responded, smiling forcefully. "I made the girl run a few more errands for us later, of course."

Ren's mind was reeling. Kyoko really was trying to insert herself in two places in their tale of arrival. But why? "Why are they so concerned about that girl?"

"I honestly don't know why the fool is concerned but every time Amamiya mentions her, he butts in the conversation like a fool goat. Amamiya apparently was with that pink girl when she bought a present for me."

And then everything made sense again. "Ah." So Kyoko had bought something for Setsu while she was with Amamiya-san, and was now confirming an alibi that not only was Ren a different person from Cain but Kyoko was also a different person than Setsu. "I don't remember what present she got you. Care to remind me?"

Kyoko fought down a blush. "I'm wearing it right now."

She had not anticipated that Cain would react by taking her hand and twirling her in place for a moment while looking her up and down. Flustered, breathless, and slightly dizzy, she unconsciously reverted to Japanese, "What was that for?"

Cain smirked for an instant, before murmuring in her ear, "I don't see you wearing anything that I didn't buy you." True to his statement, her top was one that he had bought, along with the pants that one day. Her boots, along with her normal piercings and chains, were things that Jelly had provided, but Kyoko didn't think that was worth a fight. Especially when she already was as embarrassed as she was, anticipating where this conversation might end up.

"It's not something I would let just anyone see," she said softly. "I'll show Nii-san later. When we're back at the hotel."

Fuwa approached for his first scene with Cain, just in time to overhear the last couple of statements, and his face contorted slightly in disgust.

Cain noticed. "Does _he_ know what the present was?" he whispered.

Setsu shrugged. "If he does, does it matter? He won't get to see it." Her statements frustrated and pacified Ren at the same time. She translated all of the choreographer's instructions again before turning away from the set. She turned back and squeezed his hand. "Good luck, and remember not to kill him," she said with a sweet smile.

Cain nodded and lifted their joined hands momentarily before letting go and returning to his starting point. Setsu darted to her chair and as he glanced at her, she looked wholly excited by this upcoming scene.

Fuwa noticed the glance and the resultant quirk of Heel-san's lips. "It might not be considered polite to say to someone I've just met, but I want to say that it seems you're not being strictly polite with your sister."

Cain's glare at the statement made it clear the man was thinking something along the lines of 'Mind your own business and stay out of mine.'

Sho huffed, then rolled his shoulders, trying to ignore the feeling that the glare reminded him illogically of Tsuruga. There was absolutely no way. This guy only spoke English, and had darker hair, and coped with situations completely differently. Though their heights had to be similar… no. He was not going to think about that. Not now.

"And… Action!" came the call from Miruki.

After five minutes of practiced sparring, Sho regretted ever having needled Heel-san about the questionable relationship the man had with his sister.

Heel-san was _good_. The actor definitely wasn't giving up the high ground easily, and was fully making Sho work to complete all the steps in their almost dance. He found himself panting, and staring in amazement at the skills demonstrated by the man. He totally had the air of an accomplished swordsman.

He also took each and every opportunity possible to throw in an extra jab here or there. It wouldn't be noticeable to Miruki or Shoko that he was altering the choreography so easily, but Sho would certainly feel the bruises tomorrow from their sparring.

After another ten minutes of this and several cuts and retries, Sho finally tossed his fake sword to the ground, huffing slightly as he called out, "Miruki, are we going to start the actual scene soon?"

Asami sighed. "Sho, you were doing really well this last time, but we need to see you take the upper hand in the fight. You have yet to do that. I'll use the rehearsal tapes if need be, but we need you to finish this playing around. In this story-line you are fighting for the girl you love. Would you really be so half-hearted about winning that girl from her guardian?"

Shoko frowned, evaluating the scene and Sho's reaction to it. In her honest opinion, she thought that Sho had been doing rather well, it was just the fact that he had yet to overpower the taller man. And that wasn't technically a bad thing, as it showed the young man's unwillingness to hurt the girl's precious father.

As they resumed once more, Shoko wondered if Heel-san had been giving the appropriate opening for Sho to overpower the man. Sure enough, every fifth stroke, just as planned, was slightly more hesitant, and lighter. And then she glanced over at Sho's face and noted his astonishment. Oh. So that was the reason the shoot wasn't progressing.

She walked over to where the producer was evaluating the film, shaking her head as Sho kept missing his opportunity. "Asami-san," whispered Shoko. "Can you give them a break for a few minutes? I have something I want to tell Sho. It might help him."

Asami nodded. "Cut! Take five!"

Shoko picked her way to Sho, who had instantly tossed the sword to the ground and was massaging his wrist as soon as he heard the word. "Sho," she began. "You're being too overwhelmed."

Sho grit his teeth. "No, I'm not!"

"He's dutifully giving you the opening on every fifth stroke, but you're so amazed with his movements on the fourth, that you forget to act and take the lead. It's a good thing Kyoko-chan isn't here, or else I fear these two would stand out more than you because of their strength in acting." Shoko sighed. "We usually try to get novices, so that you aren't compared unfavorably with them."

"I wouldn't be compared unfavorably to Kyoko," insisted Sho.

Cain let out a short snorting type of laugh when he overheard that statement and Sho turned a glare on the uncaring actor who was still pretending not to be able to understand them.

"Quite honestly, Sho, she had already surpassed you last time in terms of acting skill. As for this time, Heel-san is obviously more talented than Murasame-san led us to believe. Try your best to concentrate. Missing the cue once could be construed as respect for an elder, but missing it this many times implies that he's better than you."

Sho snapped his eyes back to her, reacting predictably to the statement. "He's not! I'm the best here!"

Shoko smiled. "Then prove it, Sho. Your character needs to treat this encounter as overcoming a respected obstacle, and gaining his respect in return. Without that, you won't get the girl."

Sho didn't answer, but looked off into the distance huffily.

Cain pursed his lips together as his adorable little sister came up at this point with a fresh water bottle and a towel. Not that he really needed those items, but her fussing over him and completely ignoring her enemy made him feel slightly better. Plus there had been the fact that even Fuwa's manager was willing to acknowledge his kouhai's talent. Any accolades for her always soothed his emotions.

"Don't worry, Brother," Setsu said confidently. "This next take will surely be enough. And then that girl can jump in and you'll be done with your scenes."

"Anything to be with you sooner," Cain murmured and Setsu smiled conspiratorially.

"I'll be waiting." Setsu turned to go back to her seat, and as she passed Fuwa, Sho heard her mutter, "Try to _act_ this time. You're holding up production of your own PV."

Sho's eyes instantly widened with shock and bruised pride. How dare this—this _girl_ who obviously had a disturbing relationship with her brother—how dare she tell him that! And the words she chose, was it just coincidence that it made his mind flash back to the exchange he had started with Kyoko during the Prisoner PV shoot? Try your best to _act_.

It infuriated him. And as he faced his opponent he knew that he would succeed this time, no matter what!

* * *

Kyoko found herself heavily frowning while watching the romance rehearsal between Sho and Chiori. She repressed the desire to yell to Amamiya-san not to fall for such a jerk. She knew they were just acting, but even Setsu couldn't contain the warning bells going off in Kyoko's mind. She was glad that she had completely missed the scenes with Sho and Mimori during the Prisoner PV, as that probably would have brought back her traumatic memories even more.

"Setsu." His voice, so gentle, drew her attention upwards. Cain was standing at her side, his eyes focused on her rather than the rehearsal. "Your prejudices are showing. To love others is not a bad thing."

She bit her trembling lower lip. Where did he get off saying that? Of course it was! She wanted to voice her answer confidently at him. But, she gently reminded herself that she was currently Setsu. Setsu wouldn't raise her voice to her precious brother. Even if she ever got mad, she played it off as joking immediately afterwards.

Hurriedly searching for a way to express herself, she ended up pouting, "Love hurts."

Ren paused, letting the silence capture her attention more fully, unable to fully dismiss her argument because of his own hurting heart. He also knew that Setsu was drawing the conclusion from the honest opinion of Kyoko, and why it was her opinion. "Only if it is never returned," he finally said, gently. "Does your love for me hurt you, Setsu?"

Ah! How could she possibly answer that question? Setsu's love for her brother was absolute, and Cain's love in return always made her feel so happy. But that poisonous love was building in Kyoko's heart rather than just Setsu's, and she knew instinctively that it would hurt, it would hurt a whole lot more if it was allowed to firmly take up residence there. When she disappointed Tsuruga-san, she would hurt so much more than when Sho had thrown her away, and so those feelings must not be allowed to grow. She knew that. So how come they only kept getting stronger? Kyoko could only lay blame to Setsu's character and the fact that her profile was to love and adore her brother. That, and the contact of Tsuruga-san's hands with her skin was like a perfect unlocking charm.

"Setsu?" murmured Ren, running his fingers over Setsu's blonde wig. "It's okay. I will always return your love."

Kyoko couldn't help jerking her head to look him in the eyes. "Always, Brother? How can you promise that?"

Ren's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying I don't know my own feelings?" This was getting dangerously close to topics he had promised himself to avoid, but he was helpless against the desire to finally get her to trust in someone's feelings lasting longer than Fuwa's had.

"No," Kyoko shook her head miserably. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"Feelings have a way of changing, even without permission. And doesn't everything come to an end? Even the most beautiful, precious memories must end sometime."

Ren frowned. He didn't know why, but he felt certain that Kyoko was in fact not referencing her time with Sho, but rather her time with Corn when she said such a thing in that sad tone. And with that revelation, he thought he knew how to comfort her once more. "The actual events that create such memories, yes. They have a definite end and a beginning, and once passed, they cannot be retrieved. But the moments that we want to remain precious memories, we can decide to treasure them and remember them forever, and thereby keep them close to our heart."

Kyoko pursed her lips, thinking hard about this new perspective. She didn't know why but she couldn't argue with what he had said. She simply nodded. "Then, this time with you, Nii-san… I want it to be in my treasured memories."

Ren tried to hide his shock and the joy that bubbled up inside him. "Even with all the trouble I've gotten us into?" he asked.

Setsu smirked at him. "That's not trouble; that's just my brother being my beloved brother. Scatterbrained, as always."

Cain instantly protested. "I'm not scatterbrained."

"Yes, you are," giggled Setsu.

Cain pouted and the subject was dropped.

* * *

Sho wished there was more time available to study the face of that girl. He wanted to see if he could confirm that underlying suspicion that this situation was more than it seemed. But every time he caught himself looking over towards her during the breaks in the different romance set-ups, his eyes always happened to make contact with her brother and he was subjected to yet another blast of that nasty glare.

And all too soon, it seemed, everything was being packed up, the stars were herded back to the dressing rooms, and everyone was taking their leave.

All before he could come to any conclusion or make any plans to test the mask of Setsuka.

Perhaps he held off from questioning her directly because the suspicion was too unreal. It had to have been a coincidence, right? Surely another girl could have stumbled upon those very words the two had exchanged the last time they worked together. It wasn't like the words themselves were very unique after all. And the situation may have called for similar words to be spoken.

Or perhaps the intimidating glares had something to do with Sho not pursuing the issue. It just wasn't worth it to irritate that guy.

Or perhaps it was the fact that he couldn't imagine little modest Kyoko strutting around in an outfit like the one Setsuka wore. She had blushed horribly when he just walked around the apartment with his shirt off, let alone prancing herself around half-naked.

Or perhaps it was because inside he feared the truth. Because if all those clues and suspicions built up into Kyoko spending that kind of attention on Tsuruga, he didn't know what he'd do.

No, that definitely wouldn't be the case. It couldn't. He lined up all the facts he could to dispute the idea that had slowly crept over his brain.

Kyoko had been working today. Tsuruga wouldn't have ever accepted a job offer from him. And it's not like the top actor in show biz would condescend to walk around like a nobody just so the two could hang off of each other. He shuddered, almost being able to imagine it, and tried to stop his over-active thoughts before they got riled over absolutely nothing.

Plus, he reminded himself, that girl, Setsuka, had met Kyoko. Amamiya had confirmed that. And he even found out that he apparently had Cain Heel to blame for Kyoko's phone being turned off. Not that that fact mattered.

Maybe it was just some combination of all of those factors.

Sho found himself pouting in the van with Shoko, on their way back to Shoko's apartment. He surely would just have to confirm it himself, with Kyoko, in person.

He took out his phone, and ran his fingers over it, thinking before acting on his desires for the first time. Surely this time, with the Heel siblings having just barely left the set, it would be okay to call her?

Surely.

He put the phone to his ear.

_"The number you have dialed is currently out of reach or turned off and thus unavailable." Beep._

He let the phone drop along with his hopes of a quick, easy answer.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the marvelous response to the other chapters! Hope this chapter lived up to expectations! This isn't the end of the story, but I still have a few things to work out in the next few chapters, so they'll likely take additional time.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And tell me if you like it. ^_^


	7. Karma

Disclaimer: I do not own nor draw Skip Beat! All rights belong in the rightful hands.

A/N: In this chapter information through Chapter 203 is merged into the story as if everything happened the way it did in the manga. This chapter happens as events in between 203 and 204.

* * *

Another PV

By Matelia-legwll

**Chapter Seven: Karma**

* * *

"ARGH!" Murasame was on the verge of ripping his hair out once again. "He's late! And he was playing hooky yesterday, yet again! I am so going to smash him when he finally gets here!"

"Murasame-san," mentioned Director Konoe with an irritated glint in his eye. "Heel-san wasn't actually playing hooky yesterday as you seem to think."

"Oh, yeah? Then where was he?" demanded Murasame, refusing the calming attempts made by various members of the staff.

"Filming part of a PV for an artist that had hired him by your recommendation," retorted Konoe softly. Murasame didn't need to know that the PV had finished filming a few days ago. This was just a convenient excuse to shut the young actor up the next few times he complained about Cain Heel missing work because of designated time off for work as Tsuruga Ren.

"Eh? What are you talking about?" asked Murasame, startled out of his rage.

"Do you recall a certain offer from a musician named Fuwa Sho?" questioned Konoe.

Murasame's jaw slacked. Then he rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. "Awkward," he muttered. "Never thought they'd take me seriously."

"That's what I'd thought you'd say when Setsuka-chan called me with the update," sighed Konoe, shaking his head in resignation. He was honestly getting better at the whole acting thing. Maybe it just took practice. Or interaction with either Kyoko-chan or Tsuruga Ren. "Honestly, we wanted Heel-san to be a complete surprise to viewers. That's why he never took part in any of the production announcements, and he refuses all publicity stunts."

"It's because he's the real deal! He really is BJ!" insisted Murasame defensively.

"If you're so convinced of that, why do you keep aggravating him?" asked Rio, skeptically.

"Er," hesitated Murasame.

"Ah, Heel-san has arrived," announced the Assistant Director, who was anxious for a subject change, and to get filming before many more interruptions followed.

Cain Heel swept into the studio dispassionately. As he dragged his feet over to the make-up artists waiting for him, he sighed loudly. Murasame blinked before staring back and forth between the door and the retreating actor. One thought was cycling in his mind. _Where is the sister?_

* * *

Upon walking out of her school, Kyoko froze and screamed internally. _Not this again!_ DÈJÁ VU!

Seriously, this guy was absolutely annoying! Didn't he have _anything_ else to do?

And how was she going to avoid him this time?

Honestly, did he have a secret agenda to absolutely ruin her school life? Elementary and middle school wasn't enough for him. He had to cause problems at her high school as well. She can already hear the whispers start from the other students.

"Look! He's here. Again."

"Doesn't that mean he's definitely here for a specific person?"

"Who's Fuwacchi waiting for?"

"Who were the girls he ended up talking to last time?"

"Nanokura Mimori was one. She's in Akatoki like Fuwacchi. But no one could spot who the other girl was."

The 'other girl' was currently frantically trying to come up with some way to get out of this situation. The rear gates wouldn't be an option this time unless she could avoid Mimori, whom Kyoko anticipated would be waiting in a similar spot to make this all come full circle should she be naïve enough to try and escape the same way. Sho was standing very obviously next to the front gates, his gaze now locked on her.

Students were turning around to see who he was looking at, and if anyone was reacting oddly to apparently being picked up by Fuwa for the second time from school.

Kyoko snapped her fingers as if she had just remembered something, then turned around and went back inside the school, her thoughts still racing.

She couldn't call anyone, could she? She quickly ran through her list of contacts on her phone.

Tsuruga-san was on set as Cain today. His third day without her by his side as Setsu, and she didn't feel comfortable letting him know that it had only taken this long for Sho to come for her again at her school. She might also have to break up a fight if Tsuruga-san or Cain came and got her because she worried him.

President was much too busy to bother about something as simplistic as avoiding Sho, though she did consider him slightly longer if only for the fact that he could send Sebastian. She liked the image of Sebastian blocking Sho from getting at her, plus the obvious ojou-sama feel she would get from being picked up by a chauffeur.

Sawara-san was too busy as well, and it probably would take just as long explaining why she wanted to avoid Fuwa as it would for a driver from LME to come pick her up.

Yashiro-san. She paused. That would be interesting. If she couldn't get a hold of anyone else, she'd try him, though he'd probably have to use public transportation to pick her up, but he could probably freeze-glare Sho like he freeze-glares Ren's fan girls from time to time.

Wait, there's Moko-san. Her eyes rested on her best friend's name and number. Yes! As Moko-san wasn't currently shooting, she should be at the Love-Me office today. She put the phone to her ear, bouncing on her toes, hoping to hear the cold annoyance of the actress's voice.

_"Mo! What is it?"_

"Moko-san! Are you busy right now?" Kyoko bit her lip then whispered, "Please say you're not."

There was a pause. On her end of the line, Kanae had set down carefully the items she had been carrying, and was now leaning against a wall, her full attention on the phone call, now.

_"Depends. What's wrong? We were going to meet tonight at the karaoke place. That better still be happening."_

"Yes! Definitely! In fact, if you want to go there now, that would be great!" Kyoko's eyes lit up. She had forgotten that today was their promised Wednesday outing.

_"What's going on?"_ Kanae asked suspiciously.

Kyoko sighed. "You know the cockroach?"

_"Yes."_

"He's at my school right now."

_"He's what?"_

"At my school. Can you possibly come pick me up? I promise we'll go to the karaoke place and talk for hours…"

_"You want me to come pick you up?"_

"That would be great if you could. I need a valid excuse to ignore him. And stunning him into silence would be good too. Then he wouldn't be able to ruin my high school life over a rumor."

_"Hmm. Let me think."_

"I mean, I guess I could call Yashiro-san. But I would much rather my best friend come—"

_"Okay. I'll do it. Wait for my call and then come out."_

"You're the best, Moko-san!"

Kyoko exulted. If all it took was _this_ to get a little closer in their friendship, she wouldn't even mind the fact that it was Sho waiting out—she stopped that thought abruptly, frowning thoughtfully. Where had she heard that phrasing recently? She tapped the phone to her cheek thoughtfully.

It had been on set. Probably within the last year. One of the girls of Box-R? No. Certainly not Tragic Marker, as Manaka-chan was the only one who dared interact with the siblings besides Murasame. Dark Moon? Dark Moon—Karuizawa! That's where she'd heard it! Those silly maids that wanted to be stalked in order to spend time with Tsuruga-san.

Had she just had the same thought process, but with Moko-san? Scary. She lowered and flipped close her phone, still remembering that time. Tsuruga-san had altered his schedule so that he could come be with her earlier, just because she had panicked and called him without knowing what to do. And that made her even more sure that if she called Cain, he'd leave the set immediately, and it's not like he could explain that reaction with rescuing Setsu, because Setsu had been ordered back to the UK until Kyoko's exams were done.

Kyoko heaved a sigh, wondering not for the first time how Tsuruga-san was coping without Setsu on the set. She had set her exams for the earliest possible date, taking into consideration that Box-R would continue filming with her, and so would Kimagure Rock. Thankfully the last three days, she had been able to concentrate on the lessons occasionally, enough that she felt confident with a little cramming she would succeed at an higher than average grade on her exams. Though she would take Tsuruga-san's warning about studying the night before seriously and get plenty of sleep instead.

Her phone started flashing and vibrating. Quickly she put it up to her ear.

_"Okay. I'm here. The plan is…"_ she heard Kanae breathing heavily. _"You get out here… and—"_

"Moko-san? What's wrong?"

_"Nothing! Now listen. We are going to blow him away, you hear me?"_

"What are you going to do, Moko-san?"

_"I… am going… to hug you."_

Kyoko's eyes widened. "Moko-san?!"

_"Mo, just get out here. And make sure you call me by name. You'll see the rest."_

As she closed her phone and put it away, Kyoko's face stayed shocked into joy at the prospect that not only would she actually succeed in hugging her best friend, Moko-san would actually hug her back.

As she exited the front door of the school again her face lit into a huge smile. Moko-san was garnering a whole lot more attention than Sho, because of the cursed Love-Me uniform.

"What _is_ that color?"

"Why would she wear such horrible clothes?"

The Love Me uniform prompted Kyoko into her usual run, yelling, "MOKO-SAN!"

Sho's head shot up at the shout and he stared in shock as the two girls hugged.

The taller girl with long black hair who looked only vaguely familiar, tapped Kyoko on the head affectionately as she broke the hug. "Mo! You have such a cute nickname for me."

Kyoko grinned her brightest smile, something that Sho hadn't seen in a year, though he'd seen it plenty of times before that, and said sappily, "What would you expect of a best friend, Kanae?"

Loads of students who had been milling around waiting to see who Sho was here for, transferred their attention to the duo.

"Did she say Kanae? Doesn't that mean it is Kotonami Kanae?"

"I heard Kyoko-san and she were close."

"After all, they're both in LME."

"They had a commercial together, didn't they?"

At that comment, belatedly, Sho realized that this was the girl that had turned down his Prisoner PV.

"C'mon, Kyoko." The girl with the long hair had now linked their arms and was marching his prey out the school gates. "I want to spend some best-friend time with you."

Sho could barely find his voice enough to croak, "Ky— Kyo— Kyoko?" as he reached his hand out slightly.

A glare from the taller girl made his hand draw back instinctively.

"Wait. Hang on, Kyoko," the girl sighed, exasperated at something. "There's just one more thing I need to do. Stay right here, okay?"

Sho watched as she patted Kyoko's arm, before turning and coming towards him. Wait, towards _him_? Why would she do such a thing?

Kanae stopped halfway between Fuwa and where she'd left Kyoko looking after her anxiously. "Fuwa-kun!" she called out suddenly.

Sho stared at the girl addressing him. "Eh?"

She sighed, and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Look, I understand that you are a fan of mine. But don't you think anticipating when I'm going to pick up _my_ best friend from _her_ school is a bit much?"

Sho spluttered as Kanae had apparently misinterpreted the situation in an extremely arrogant way.

But it was enough to start the whispers again.

"He was trying to talk with Kotonami-san?"

"Fuwacchi is her fan?"

"That's not— I didn't—" Sho tried to deny her illogical assumption in vain.

"Listen, Fuwa-kun. If I really wanted to talk with you, I'd answer your phone calls. You are in the business after all. But I haven't had many good experiences with musicians, talented or not, so I wouldn't hope for my attention too much, if I were you." The actress spun on her heel, and strutted back over to Kyoko, who looked about to burst from glee at the telling off Kanae just gave.

"Wow, Moko-san! You're so—wonderful!" Kyoko exclaimed before clinging onto the actress's arm again, and exiting the school with her.

"Mo! Just tell me what happened with Tsuruga-san the other day."

Kyoko instantly flushed. "Not _here_, Moko-san. I'll tell you when we get there."

"It _is_ only a few minutes away," acknowledged Kanae. "Okay. I'll let you delay for now. How was school?"

Sho stood, still in shock at what just happened, infuriated at what the actress had implied, listening as the rumors began to spread. He wanted to yell to the muttering crowd that he hadn't even met the girl before today! How could he possibly be _her_ fan? The anger swelled in him. And what was this asking after Tsuruga? Argh! He knew none of the watching students would believe him after such a scene that had just occurred. And this was all going to hit the internet and fan sites in under thirty minutes. All he was trying to do was talk to Kyoko! Why was everything getting in his way?

He pulled out his phone as he started to turn away and leave the school. "Shoko? There may be reports of me acting like a crazed fan. Can you do something to stop that image from spreading too far?"

_"What happened with Kyoko-chan?"_ her voice sounded shocked in his ear. It both irritated and pleased him that he never had to explain to _her_ whom he was trying to get in contact with.

"Nothing happened with _her_. It was the long-haired girl from the Curara commercial that assumed I was a crazed fan of hers in front of around a hundred high school kids."

_"What in the world? What did you do?"_

"Nothing! Never mind. I'll tell you more later."

He had one more call to make first. He left as he called the number he was sure had to be on right now. The third time he dialed her number, he finally got an answer.

_"Mo! Stupid cockroach! Leave her alone already! Didn't I tell you off enough at the school?"_

He could hear Kyoko giggling in the background. _"He's not using common sense right now, Moko-san."_

Sho grit his teeth. How did she still know him so well? "Listen up and listen carefully, then—"

Kanae interrupted him smoothly. _"How about you listen for once? Kyoko wants nothing to do with you, and wants to spend the time with her best friend. By the way, I don't appreciate having to remind her to turn on her phone because you have been annoying her. So, stop calling!"_

"I mean it," growled Sho, threateningly. "Listen carefully to what I have to say."

_"Kyoko, what was it with Tsuruga-san that made you blush earlier?"_ He heard right before a click.

What? He stared at the phone, in shocked horror. How dare she! And right after asking a question that he wanted to hear the answer to!

* * *

Kyoko buried her head in her hands in despair. If she was Tsuruga-san, she would have thought up a way to completely fool Moko-san by now, but she wasn't, and she hadn't.

"So? Are you going to tell me?" prompted Kanae, setting down the phone on the table and picking up her drink.

Kyoko shook her head. "I don't know if I can get the words out. For some reason this is a lot harder than talking about it with President."

Kanae almost choked on her swallow. Suddenly coughing and clearing her throat, she looked in amazement at her best friend. "You told President something you can't tell me?" she questioned harshly, surprisingly hurt by the fact that the other actress was finding it difficult to talk to her.

Kyoko shook her head, "No. It was more the fact that he already saw. So he, of course, knew already."

Kanae frowned, and set down her drink, thinking hard, and feeling relieved at the conclusion that came to her. "Are you trying to tell me that President saw your feelings for Tsuruga-san and confronted you about them?"

Kyoko jerked her head up, her eyes wide in shock. "H-how?" was all that came out of her open mouth before Kanae laughed.

"Honestly, I'm running out of other options, Kyoko."

"Oh." Kyoko turned away and pouted slightly. "That obvious, eh?"

Kanae pursed her lips. "No, not at all. You're good at misdirection, if you don't remember. It's just…" She was going to kill herself with embarrassment for allowing this next sentence to be voiced, but she did it anyway. "What sort of best friend would I be if I didn't even know that?"

The words had a healing, soothing balm to them, in a way comforting both girls. Kyoko relaxed, smiling again, and Kanae sat back, holding her drink once more and fiddling with her straw.

"You aren't mad?" asked Kyoko, meekly peeking in Kanae's direction. "You aren't going to despise me and never speak to me again?"

Kanae leveled a glance at her. "Did I ever threaten to do that?"

"No," said Kyoko hesitantly, still peeking at Moko-san from under her hair.

"Then I won't," declared Kanae. "So what can you tell me about the situation President found you in?"

Kyoko hesitated, clenching and unclenching her fists. "It's not that I want to hide it from you, Moko-san. It's just, I'm helping Tsuruga-san out with a top-secret mission that he probably wasn't supposed to tell me about because the President called him an idiot, and the President was disappointed with me too when he found out I let things slip to Yashiro-san, even though Yashiro-san already knew about Tsuruga-san's half, and I have to fool my friends before I can fool my enemies—"

"President called Tsuruga-san an idiot?" interrupted Kanae, her lips twitching in amusement.

Kyoko nodded seriously. "He seemed irritated, but not overly displeased, I suppose."

"Then he shouldn't be overly displeased with telling me, I reckon," reasoned Kanae.

Kyoko's eyes widened as she thought about the new perspective. "You're right! Because it's you, I should be able to tell you about my dangerous mission."

"This is part of your dangerous mission?" asked Kanae.

Kyoko nodded, and then started to explain how this had all come about.

"Mo, Kyoko you really get yourself in some interesting situations," marveled Kanae, sipping from her drink casually.

Kyoko tilted her head in agreement, feeling relieved about finally telling one person everything and having Moko-san just sit and accept it all without passing judgment on her reminded her of how much she loved having a best friend. She had been holding in her feelings for so long, that letting President and Moko-san know felt like they had been able to help her shoulder her burden. She also knew that these two wouldn't judge her for her reactions.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Kanae.

"What do you mean?" Kyoko asked, surprised.

"About Tsuruga-san," clarified Kanae, poking her ice with her straw. "You said President outlined your choice. So, what did you choose?"

A determined smile, confident eyes, and hands clenched into fists was how her best friend answered her. "I'm going to act."

* * *

Chiori stared at her immortal butterfly in amazement as yet another scene wrapped perfectly. "Wow. You're on a roll, Nacchan," she complimented the actress as she stepped off to prepare for another scene.

Sudo nodded. "How many one-takes does that make for her today?"

Rumi answered, awe evident in her voice. "Thirteen."

Makino explosively let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding during the scene. "You are absolutely amazing, Kyoko-san. Good work."

Kyoko, as if she'd suddenly snapped out of her character, smiled and blushed, bowing hurriedly. "It's not due to just my efforts. Thank you all for your good work."

Makino nodded, accepting the compliment from the humble yet talented girl, but insisted, "Honestly Kyoko-san, you've lived up to the title of Tsuruga Ren's kouhai."

A surprisingly distant look came into the actress's eyes at the mention of his name, before she resumed her smile and bowed a second time in thanks.

Chiori, who had been carefully watching the interaction, stepped to Kyoko's side as they headed toward the next set. "Kyoko-san," she said, careful to not draw the attention from the other girls who seemed to be reliving the scene they had just filmed. "I happened to meet your friend the other day."

"Oh?" Kyoko frowned in confusion. What friend was she referencing? Surely if she was talking about Moko-san she would just use her name. Kyoko couldn't quite bring up the memory until—

"She and her brother were at the filming for the PV."

"Oh!" Kyoko wanted to bang her head against the wall. Honestly, she'd been expecting this conversation ever since that time, but it hadn't happened, and the moment she was a bit too wrapped up in her character and then worry for Tsuruga-san, she had forgotten that she was anticipating this topic. "Well, what do you think of her, Amamiya-san?"

Chiori smiled. "She's definitely… unique. She kept insulting Fuwa Sho in English."

As soon as Chiori had said his name, Kyoko frowned heavily, but surprised herself. There was no grudge spirit popping out of her shoulder and needing to be put away again. Had her conditioned response really changed? This line of thought was baffling her, so she shook her head violently, trying to get rid of these confusing notions.

Chiori had been watching her reaction and carefully asked, "Kyoko-san, will you tell me the truth about your relationship with that guy?"

"Hm? Oh, we definitely don't have time now, though," Kyoko said as they entered the next studio set, hoping to use work to avoid yet another confusing response from herself.

"Kyoko-san," Chiori patiently smiled. "I'm not so busy that I can't afford to talk with you after work one of these days, and as you still won't tell me what you are doing to keep so busy…" she hesitated, wondering if this time Kyoko would interject with the answer, but as the other girl kept silent, she went on. "Won't you at least tell me that? I'd like to become closer to you after all."

Kyoko's eyes widened in surprised pleasure. "Really? You really want to?"

Chiori nodded resolutely. "Yes. I'd love to call you a friend, Kyoko-san."

The actress was rewarded with a radiant smile from Love Me Number One. "This is the first time," Kyoko whispered.

Chiori paused, confused. "The first time for what?"

Kyoko changed the subject instead of answering. She wasn't sure how exactly to express to Amamiya-san without sounding offensive that Chiori was the first person that wanted to pursue a friendship with her without Kyoko being the first to call the relationship 'friends.' So it was better just to side-step that confession. "Amamiya-san, can we go out together after work today or tomorrow?"

The other actress smiled in return, and nodded. "Definitely. The way you are moving things along, there will be plenty of time after work today."

Kyoko smiled mysteriously. "It's interesting how much motivation a character can give you."

After saying that cryptic comment, Chiori watched as her newly dubbed friend stepped into the spotlight to once again challenge her senpai for the title of One-Take King.

* * *

"So, what is it with that guy?" asked Chiori later that evening as the two actresses sat side by side on a bus. Yoshimoto-san had offered to drive the two somewhere, but Kyoko politely refused, preferring not to impose on Yoshimoto, and Chiori had been swept up in the romance of the idea of reveling in not being recognized by the public.

Kyoko frowned. "In the simplest terms, I grew up with him. We happened to be childhood friends."

Chiori's eyes widened. "Ah. So that's why he doesn't use an honorific when referring to you."

Sighing, Kyoko shook her head. "He's done that since we were young. And it always made life worse for me."

Eventually Chiori managed to get a glimpse of the full picture—how Kyoko had accepted the invitation to Tokyo, but only as a support to let Sho live his dream; how he had completely betrayed her and obliterated any desire for love in her heart; how he continued to interrupt her life now that she's mainly moved on; and the ultimate benefit of revenge if she succeeds at her goal of being a top actress.

It was a story that sparked Chiori's sense of righteous vengeance, and made her want to make a new target in her poison notebook. "He was practically stalking you, like a crazy fan. If I had known this a week ago, I would have made that experience much more of a living hell for him."

Kyoko smirked, then comforted the irate actress. "Well, he can't have been too comfortable around the Heel Siblings. And it was better for you to be professional in that case."

"Still, he's going to be my newest target," said Chiori decisively.

"It's not worth it," insisted Kyoko, who was surprised at the words exiting her mouth. Trying to come up with a reason, she said softly, "He's already wasted sixteen years of my life. Devoting any more time to him will only hurt me more."

Silence stretched between the two actresses. Chiori was looking in surprise at the other girl, and Kyoko was inwardly marveling at the opinions she was expressing and wondering how they came to be. Was it something bestowed by one of her characters?

"Wow. Kyoko-san, that's… very mature of you," Chiori finally said.

Kyoko blinked. Then focused on the expression of awe staring at her. Immediately growing flustered, she tilted her head slightly. "I don't know when that changed. When I told all of this to Moko-san, I was still set on exacting my revenge on him. But now, even that seems like I'm devoting my life and purpose to something that would be entirely meaningless if I achieved it. I want to focus more on acting, and on finding myself."

Chiori nodded, letting the other girl explore the new feelings without interruption.

Kyoko looked down at her hands, still astonished at herself. She reckoned that a part of her would always childishly call out for fairness and vengeance, and wouldn't mind seeing the singer tortured by her. However, a large part of her was now protesting that it wasn't worth the effort to go out of her way to see it happen. She had other things to worry about now. Things like Tsuruga-san, how she could support him, and whether he was keeping his promise to her.

Chiori broke the silence with a soft murmur. "You really are like a fairy, you know?"

Kyoko's eyes jerked to hers, instantly discarding the previous notions, and halfway to the magic kingdom with the mention of fairies.

Chiori nodded, reaffirming the unspoken question written all over Kyoko's face. "Yes, you. You have this amazing speed, you can transform into whatever character will make the best impact, and you can do it all while appearing to be an innocent butterfly. You have beautiful transparent wings."

The longing expression on Kyoko's face was heart wrenching, before Kyoko sighed, "I could never be a fairy, Amamiya-san. They are too amazing."

"You _are_ amazing, Kyoko-san," disagreed Chiori softly. "And we should do something with this whole name business. You are one of the few I feel comfortable discussing my true name with, and yet you still call me by my stage name's family name. Will you please call me by my given name? Or at least a nickname, like Moko-san's?"

Kyoko smiled, though she couldn't help inwardly being embarrassed with the amount of praise. "Thank you, Chiorin."

* * *

Murasame frowned, staring after Cain Heel again.

"It's so odd, don't you think?" muttered a male co-star near him. "The two had such an idiot-couple connection that to see him without his sister for days is really weird."

"Has anyone been able to get out of him where she is?" asked Murasame.

Rio shook her head complacently. "The most he'll ever do right now is sigh when someone brings it up."

Manaka was staring longingly after Cain. "If only he would treat me as his cute hamster again."

"Give it up, Manaka-chan," replied Murasame forcefully. "That guy is not the guy you think he is."

Manaka pouted. "If only he hadn't started treating me so coldly. Maybe if I knew English better, he'd be more friendly."

In disgust of the logic of a girl trying to be in love, Murasame stood and followed Cain to his private room. Staring at the closed door, he debated on knocking on it, but decided that Cain didn't deserve the courtesy that he refused to show the rest of the cast members anyway.

"Where's your sister?" demanded Murasame of the man inside the room almost as soon as he threw the door open.

Cain Heel had been staring blankly at the wall when the door was suddenly thrust open. He gave Murasame one disdainful look before letting his gaze slide away and thought back to the last time he had seen his "sister." He wondered what Kyoko and the President had talked about after he had left. Perhaps a manager? The President had mentioned getting her one before.

"Where's your sister?" repeated Murasame, taking a step into the room.

Ren had been dreading this moment since he left the President's office that morning. Which excuse should he use for the President's arbitrary command? Family emergency? Then why had Cain elected to stay at the Tragic Marker set? Illness? Again, that wouldn't prevent Cain from being at her side. He decided to mostly tell the truth of the matter.

After sighing once more, Cain frowned and turned away. He _would_ tell the truth, but only when someone finally forced him to.

"Where is your sister?" Murasame's impatience with the taller actor showed as he stepped forward and leaned his hands on Cain's table.

Cain glared sidelong at the annoying actor who didn't know when to back off. "Are you my sister's keeper?" he demanded.

"Look, I'm just concerned about her, alright?" said Murasame, taking a deep breath.

"Well, take your concern and shove it up your—" began Cain.

"Please. She's alright, isn't she? That's all I really want to know."

Cain continued to look darkly at the other actor.

Murasame's eyes suddenly widened. "You didn't kill her, did you?"

Cain instantly scoffed. "Idiot." After a few more moments of a stare down, Cain admitted, "She's at school. I know how and when to send my sister back for exams."

"Oh." Murasame visibly deflated.

"So eager to catch me with my hand on the murder weapon are you?" prodded Cain.

After flinching at Cain's question, Murasame asked, "When will she be back?"

Cain just heaved a sigh and turned away.

"Soon?" pressed Murasame.

Yet another sigh from Cain, before the mutter, "It won't come soon enough for me." And Murasame took pity and left the other actor alone for the duration of the break.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the marvelous response to the other chapters!

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! And tell me if you like it. ^_^


End file.
